Baby Girl: All Grown Up
by Dancingqueen4Life
Summary: Set 7 years after Baby Girl. Lexi is now a SHIELD agent, and her first assignment just might be the most difficult assignment she'll ever have. She's got her family to support her, but she's still not expected to complete the mission. Can she prove the Council and SHIELD wrong, or will her first mission be her last? Sequel to Baby Girl, so read that first. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

**This takes place about seven years after Baby Girl left off. Lexi is 18, and has been a SHIELD agent for a year and a half. If you feel like there are gaps, don't worry, there will be flashbacks throughout the story. You should really read Baby Girl before you read this, just so everything makes sense.**

* * *

**"Dustin, come on!" Lexi shouted down the hall to her boyfriend's bedroom.  
**"Hold your horses!" He called back. a minute later he came running out of his room shirtless and trying to zip his jeans.  
"Forgetting something, hotshot?" Lexi teased.  
Dustin rolled his eyes and grabbed a shirt from the floor of the hallway, ignoring the look Lexi gave him. When he'd pulled it on, Lexi grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingers before pulling him toward the elevator.

"I still don't see why we're doing this." He grumbled.  
"Because. I want to watch it, and I've got you wrapped around my finger." Lexi said as she leaned up to press a kiss to his lips.  
"Fine. Better not let your dad catch us kissing though."  
"He can't touch you." She whispered back, a devilish smirk in her voice.  
"You say that now." Dustin said as he kissed her head just as the doors slid open to the common floor. Lexi rolled her eyes and dragged him to the movie room. While he got situated on a couch and had JARVIS start the movie, Lexi went about getting snacks. When she was done, Dustin pulled her into his lap, causing her to squeal slightly.  
After she got comfortable on his lap, they quieted down and focused on the movie. Dustin groaned when the main character appeared on screen, but Lexi couldn't help smiling. She liked the girl's spunky nature. And the fact that she was an archer didn't hurt. Neither did the fact that she had red hair.  
"Hush you." She whispered to Dustin.  
"You just like it cause she looks like you." He shot back.  
"So?" Lexi asked.  
Dustin just laughed and tugged on one of Lexi's curls, causing her to stick her tongue out at him.  
Halfway through the movie, Lexi noticed that Dustin had stopped talking and when she turned to look at him, she found him asleep and snoring softly. Just as she was about to elbow him to wake him up, he shifted and his hair fell in his face. Instead, Lexi found herself just staring at him, loving how peaceful he looked.  
As she watched him sleep, she thought back to the day he and Ashlyn had arrived:

_"Pepper?" Lexi asked softly. "Will you be ok?"_  
_"I think so. It'll just take some time."_  
_"When are they coming?" Lexi asked again._  
_"Tonight. I actually have to leave soon to go get them."_  
_"Can you... can you tell me about them?"_  
_Pepper smiled down at Lexi. She knew the girl was trying to make her feel better. "Alright. Dustin is your age. He likes skateboarding and math. I swear, he's related to Tony somehow. They're both so good at math."_  
_"And his sister? Ashlyn, right?"_  
_Pepper nodded and got slightly choked up. "Yeah. She's uh- she's 6. I've only met her once, right after she was born. She likes dancing."_  
_Lexi nodded and gave Pepper a hug. "I'm so sorry about your sister." Lexi whispered._  
_Pepper hugged her back just as tightly but didn't say a word._

"Do you realize how creepy it is when you stare?" A voice asked from behind Lexi. When she turned she found her sister and Ashlyn standing in the doorway.  
"Shut up."  
"Oo, touchy." Ceara said with a smile.  
"What do you guys want?"  
"We were going to watch a movie." Ashlyn said.  
"We're using the room."  
"So we noticed. We might go find Papa and let him know you two are in her together. In the dark."  
Lexi froze. "Crap. Fine, come watch whatever the hell movie you want to."  
Ceara and Ashlyn smiled at each other before entering the theater.  
"Hey, Ky?"  
"Hmm?"  
"When are Ali and Ana getting back?"  
"Couple days I think. But Phil wants Ana to start training once they get back."  
"And Ali?"  
"I don't know. She's been kind of weird lately though."  
"Can you blame her? Mama's acting the same way."  
"Why aren't you? Not that I want you to, but..." Ashlyn started.  
"She didn't grow up there. She doesn't remember it." A gruff voice answered. Lexi turned and saw her boyfriend was awake. "Hi." He added.  
Lexi leaned in and kissed him softly before standing up and holding her hands out to him. "C'mon. We're being bribed out of here."  
"Huh?"  
"Ky threatened to tell Clint where we are."  
"Ah. Troublemakers."  
"My thoughts exactly. Let's go."

Dustin nodded and pulled himself up off the couch. Together he and Lexi left the room, calling goodbye to their siblings. Dustin grabbed Lexi's hand and squeeze it lightly.  
"Where do you want to go?"  
"I kinda want to find a spot and make out for a while." Lexi said with a shy smile.  
"Too bad you don't have time for that." Lexi heard behind her.  
When she turned around, she found Clint standing behind them, glaring at Dustin.  
"Umm... hi?" Lexi asked.  
"Your mom wanted me to find you and tell you to go to the gym."  
Lexi sighed but nodded. She turned back to Dustin. "Let's go." She whispered.  
"She just wanted you, Lex. Dustin can stay here with me. It'll tie us a chance to... chat." Clint said.  
Dustin looked at Clint and gulped slightly. Lexi nodded slowly and turned to her boyfriend.  
"Don't try to outrun him." She breathed into his ear as they hugged. When they pulled apart, Dustin leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek, causing her to blush slightly. It was an unspoken rule that they kept the PDA to a minimum around Clint.  
Lexi turned and walked past Clint, pausing to kiss his cheek. When she pulled away she noted that his features had softened, although not by much. with one last look to her boyfriend, Lexi left the room to find her mother.  
Just as the elevator doors were closing, she heard Clint start talking.  
"I"m only going to tell you this once, Dustin. If you hurt her, I'm gonna-"  
Lexi gulped when Clint's words were cut off.  
She arrived at the gym moments later and waved as she passed Steve at his punching bag.  
"Hi, Mama." She called.  
"Hi, Lexi. Let's get to work. Where's Dustin?"  
"Umm... Clint wanted to talk to him." Lexi said nervously.  
"What were you two doing?"  
"Nothing!"  
Natasha just gave her a look, causing her to blush slightly.  
"Well, he might have heard me tell Dustin that I wanted to find a place where we could make out..."  
"Lexi!" Natasha said. "You can't say things like that in front of Clint!"  
"I know! I didn't know he was there! But honestly, Mama. We share a floor in the tower. Clint has to know we also share a bedroom. Why does he act like the two of us dating is so awful? We've been together for nearly 2 years!"  
"Lexi, I'm your mother, and I don't even want to think about the two of you sharing a bed."  
"Sorry."  
Natasha smiled at her daughter as she wrapped her arms around Lexi's shoulders. "This is Clint's job, Sweetie. He's supposed to be the scary parent."  
Lexi opened her mouth to reply, but Natasha stopped her. "Don't say it, Lex. Step-fathers still get to terrify the boyfriend."  
"Why should he do it when my biological dad can do just as good of a job?" Lexi asks softly.  
Natasha softened at the change of conversation.  
"Lexi-"  
"Let's just get this done, Mama. You said I was the only on who could get rid of him."  
Natasha nodded. "Alright. Alexei Shostakov. Also known as Red Guardian. He was a Red Room trainer. He was _my_ trainer. He knows how to fight, and he won't hesitate to kill you."  
"You left out the part where he's also _my_ father. Just say it outright, Mama." Lexi whispered.  
When Natasha looked at her daughter, she saw pain creeping into her eyes.  
"I thought you said my demons were gone, Mama. I thought you said they couldn't hurt me anymore!" Lexi cried.  
Natasha wrapped her arms around Lexi, earning an elbow to the gut, but she held on tightly.  
"I thought they were, baby girl. I thought they were gone." Natasha whispered.  
They were silent for a moment before Lexi spoke again.  
"SHIELD's sending me out to kill my biological father, aren't they?" She whispered.  
"Yes." Natasha confirmed in a whisper. Fury had told her a week ago, after Ana and Ali had been kidnapped by none other than Shostakov. He'd been set on getting them, and Natasha, back to try to recreate the Red Room.  
"They don't expect me to make it out alive, do they?" She asked.  
Natasha gasped and her hold on Lexi tightened. "Lexi, Clint and I have faith in you. We know-"  
"This isn't about what you know, Mama." Lexi whispered.  
Natasha and Lexi stared at each other for a long moment before Lexi asked again.  
"SHIELD doesn't expect me to make it out alive, do they?"  
Natasha took a deep breath before replying. "No."

* * *

**There you go! I know it kind of got dark quickly, but I guess this story just didn't want to be filled with complete and utter fluff. Hopefully you guys still like it.  
Also, since I know someone is bound to ask, I added Dustin and Ashlyn to the story because I wanted Lexi to date Tony's son- even if it's by adoption- because I wanted to write Clint's reaction, since I knew it would be fun. And since she was already 11 when she met the team, any kid Tony and Pepper had together would have been 11 years younger than her, and that was going to be awkward.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Three hours later, Lexi ran out of the gym. She and Natasha had spent the time sparing with few breaks in between. Natasha watched as he daughter ran away but didn't try to stop her. She knew that Lexi was scared of what was to come, even if she didn't want to admit it.

Lexi ran down the stairs to the common room. As she ran into the room, Dustin jumped up and had just enough time to steady himself before Lexi threw herself into his arms. Dustin wrapped his arms around her shoulders while Lexi's arms went around his waist and she buried her face in his shirt.  
"What's wrong, Lex?" Dustin whispered into her ear. Lexi took a deep breath to explain, but before she got any words out, another voice answered.  
"Honestly, you two. I don't need to see all this PDA!" Clint said.  
Later, Lexi would realize that he was joking, but at that moment, she didn't notice the tone of his voice. She ripped herself from Dustin's arms and turned to face Clint.  
"Shut up! I'm sick and tired of you acting like this! It's not a big deal for me to have a boyfriend, honestly! Would you rather have me date a drug dealer? Of course not! So be glad I'm dating someone who's decent and makes me happy! Or don't, I don't really care. But for God's sake! Stop acting like us hugging is the end of the world! If this is the last time I see him, do you really expect me not to hug him?!"  
"Lex-" Clint tried to intervene, but Lexi wasn't quite done yelling at him.  
"It's bad enough SHIELD's sending me off to get killed! I don't need you judging me for hugging my boyfriend for what could be the last time!"  
"What?!" Another voice asked, catching Lexi off guard. When she turned she saw Ceara, Ana, and Ali all staring at her.  
"Lexi, what did you just say?" Ceara asked softly, taking a step toward her sister.  
"I might as well tell you now. My first solo mission for SHIELD is to take out Shostakov. And before you ask, yes, the Council knows it's a suicide mission."  
"Lex, your mother and I have complete faith in you. You'll-"  
"If you value your life at all, do _not_ tell me I'll be fine. I don't give a rat's ass about what you know. All I know is that SHILED is sending me out to kill my biological father."  
"Lex, surely they can't make you do that by yourself." Ana said softly.  
"Of course they can, Ana." Lexi replied.  
"Can't you quit?" Ali asked, her voice and her body shaking.  
Ceara wrapped an arm around her friend as she looked at her sister. "It won't fix it." Ceara said softly, looking at Lexi. "Will it?"  
Lexi couldn't answer. Instead she shook her head, trying not to let more tears fall.  
"That's bull shit!" Ana exclaimed.  
As all her friends started talking and yelling over each other, Lexi slipped out of the room. She hit the stairs and ran all the way up to the roof, trying her best to get away.

She'd asked Natasha, of course she had, if she could quit. It wouldn't do any good. Until he was killed, Shostakov would keep coming after her mom and friends.  
Lexi lost track of how long she sat on the ledge of the roof, but eventually she heard a door open behind her. As she looked around in an attempt to ignore the person joining her, she noticed that it had gotten dark and was likely time for dinner. Not that she was hungry, of course. Nothing like a suicide mission to kill your appetite.  
"Lex?" A voice asked softly.  
Dustin. She'd been slightly hurt that he didn't notice her slip away, but she was also glad for the chance to be alone.  
When she didn't respond, she heard him step closer to her, until he threw his legs over the ledge and sat next to her. They sat in silence together, watching the lights of the city and listening to the noises that floated up from the street.  
Finally, Lexi spoke.  
"I'm so scared. I can't do this, Dustin."  
Dustin slid off the ledge so he was fully on the roof again and pulled Lexi off to join him. He wrapped his arms around her again and held her tightly.  
"Let me help you." He whispered, voice near breaking.  
Lexi shook her head. "The Council will end you. Not to mention that something could happen to you. Ashlyn needs you."  
"And Ceara doesn't need you? That's ridiculous, Lex. Please, let me help you. Tony gave me my own suit. I'll have it on, but I'll only come help you if you need it."  
Lexi shook her head again but didn't say anything.  
"Lexi, please."  
"No!" Lexi yelled, stepping away from him. "I won't let you go. I will not be the one responsible for your death!"  
"Lexi-"  
"Stop! This is why we never should have started dating! You're compromised because of us!"  
"Lexi, what are you telling me?" Dustin asked softly.  
"I think we need to take a break, Dustin. Focus more on SHILED and less on each other."  
Dustin let out his breath. "You think we need to break up." He said softly.  
"Yeah."  
"Do you really want to? Because if it's what you want, then fine. I'll walk away. So, is it?"  
"No!" Lexi cried, more tears pouring down her face. "Of course I don't want to break up!"  
"Then what do you want, Lex?" Dustin asked.  
"I want for none of this to be happening! I want to go back to when I was a little girl and believed that he was dead, like he was supposed to have been! I want to be able to close my eyes without worrying that he'll sneak in and kill everybody I love because my mom took me away from him. But more than anything, I want for my mom to never have sent me with Charles! I want her to have not given a crap about me! I want her to have listened to the Red Room when they told her to kill me!"  
"Lexi!" Dustin said, shocked.  
"It's true! If she'd have listened to them, none of us would be in this mess! If she had killed me, no one in this tower would have to worry about themselves or their kids! If she'd even just given me over to the Red Room, none of this would have happened!"  
"Lexi, stop. Please. If any of that had happened, you'd be dead right now! There wouldn't be an 'us'! If you'd died, Clint never would have spared her life. They never would have married, and Ceara wouldn't exist! Clint would have killed Natasha. And if Natasha was dead, Ana and Ali would have been sent out on missions of their own and they'd likely be dead by now too. And if you'd been in the Red Room, you'd be dead by now too."  
"It would still be better than having to worry about you getting killed because of me!" Lexi cried.  
"Ok, we're done. We're not going to talk about this anymore. I'm not going to listen to you saying that you deserve to be dead. What we're going to do is go inside."  
Lexi opened her mouth to speak, but Dustin held his hand up.  
"We're not going to interact with anyone else. We're going to go straight to our floor, and we're going to bed. I'm going to hold you all night, and in the morning, we're going to hit the gym. And we're going to stay in there until we both feel like you have a chance at killing him. And then we're doing the same thing tomorrow. And the day after that. And every day after that until you're shipped out. And then when you get back, we're going to stand back and let our parents attack the Council for their complete idiocy."  
"Dustin-"  
"Lexi, I mean it." He said seriously. "We'll talk. When you get back, we'll talk. Think of it as incentive." He whispered as he leaned in and kissed her forehead.  
Lexi sighed and nodded. Dustin smiled at her and grabbed her hand in his. Together they left the roof and walked down the stairs until they reached their floor.  
Lexi wasn't the least bit surprised to see Clint and Natasha in their living room. They started to stand, no doubt intending to talk to Lexi, but with a head shake from Dustin, they stopped and sat down again.  
What did surprise Lexi was that Ceara was sitting on her bed.  
"Ky-"  
"No. You shut up and listen to me."  
Dustin gave Lexi a kiss and left the room to talk to Clint and Natasha.  
"I can't believe you didn't tell me! I can't believe no one told me that my only sister was being sent to kill her father. What, did you guys think I didn't deserve to know?"  
"I didn't know! All I knew was that my mission was an assassination. I had no clue who my target was until Mama told me tonight!"  
"Oh." Ceara said.  
There was silence before Ceara started talking again.  
"Don't do it, Lex. Make someone else do it."  
"There's no one else."  
"Then at least bring someone with you! But don't go walking in there with no backup!"  
"I don't have a choice!" Lexi yelled. "I'm not putting anyone else in danger!"  
"Why? Let me go with you, please!"  
"No! I'm not going to risk losing you! I'm not going to let you put yourself in danger like that!"  
"You did it when you were younger than me!"  
"That was different! I chose to do it!"  
"I'm choosing to do this!"  
"No, you're not. You're doing this because you're scared of losing me."  
"Exactly! You're the only sister I've got!"  
"You don't think I know that? Do you honestly think I want to do this? I don't have a choice, Ky! If I don't kill him, he'll stop at nothing to kill you. He won't kill me, he needs me! That's the reason this whole shit storm started! He's pissed because Mama took me away form Russia! He doesn't know what I look like, which means I'm the only one who can get close enough to kill him."  
Ceara was about to speak when Natasha appeared in the doorway. "Go wait with your father, Ceara." She said softly yet firmly.  
Ceara sighed, but after giving Lexi a tight hug, she followed her mother's instructions.  
Lexi ignored her mother and set about getting ready for bed. She changed into one of Dustin's shirts and a pair of pajama pants. Natasha waited patiently until her daughter had run out of ways to avoid her.  
"So you know." Natasha finally said when Lexi had settled herself under the covers.  
"What? That the reason this all started is because you didn't kill me and took me away from Russia? Yeah, I know."  
"Dustin said that you told him it would be better if I had killed you." Natasha said plainly.  
"It would be. None of this would have happened."  
"Do you really think I'm that heartless?" Natasha asked, her voice taking on a new quality.  
"What?"  
"Do you really think so little of me that you could say I could have killed you?"  
"Of course not! You know I think the world of you."  
"Let me tell you something, Alexis. I've told you before, but apparently it didn't stick. I was all set to kill you, I really was. But then I saw you. You were sweet and innocent and completely defenseless, and that's when I realized how much I'd been brainwashed. If I'd killed you then, like I was told to, I would have gone crazy with guilt. I would have left the Red Room, but there wouldn't have been enough of me left for Clint to save. He would have killed me in that alley like he was supposed to."  
They were quiet for a while before Lexi asked the question that had been bugging her since Shostakov had reappeared.  
"You always told me that what changed your mind about me was the way my dad looked when he held me. And the far that he was killed just after that. But if Shostakov was my dad, clearly he didn't die."  
"What's your question?" Natasha asked.  
"Did you know? Then, when you saw him hold me. Hell, was that even real? Was he even there?"  
Natasha sighed. "I thought it was. I was brainwashed into thinking that my name was Yelena Belova, and that he was my husband. All my memories of out training exercises together had been taken out. When I saw him holding you, I thought he was my husband holding my daughter. That's why I named you Alexis. After I'd hidden you, I was taken to a room and had Yelena's memories taken out of my head. I managed to hold on to a few of them, mainly the ones from when you were born. When I was Natalia Romanova again, I realized what had been done. That's when it became my mission to keep you hidden."  
"Did Yelena love him? Hell, did you?"  
"Yelena did. I thought I loved him. He was very handsome when he was my trainer. Now I think I was more in love with the fact that he seemed infatuated with me. I loved that he spent all his spare time with me."  
"But?" Lexi hedged.  
"But I didn't love the way he raped me as a punishment. I didn't love how he'd act like he loved me and would never hurt me one minute, and the next would be able to rape me without a second thought."  
"Wait, you mean the only reason I exist at all is because he raped you?"  
"I thought you assumed that, from what I'd told you about my past." Natasha said quietly.  
When Lexi didn't reply, Natasha sighed and stood up. She leaned down and kissed Lexi's head before walking toward the door. Halfway there, she stopped and turned back around.  
"My feelings for you were never in question, Lexi. Even when I was repulsed by what had happened to me, I loved you. When I was given the order to get rid of you, I loved you even more. My whole life, until 16 years ago, was one lie after another. The only thing I knew for sure in those two years we had together was that I loved you. Please don't ever doubt that."  
When Lexi didn't answer, Natasha sighed and continued out of the bedroom. She passed Dustin in the hallway as he made his way to bed.  
"Dustin." Natasha said softly.  
"Yeah?"  
"Please don't let her keep this inside. She needs to let go of it before she leaves, or at least find a way to not think about it."  
"I'll do my best."  
Natasha nodded once before continuing on her way. Clint was still waiting for her, but Ceara was gone.  
"She wanted to be alone to think." Clint answered her unspoken question.  
Natasha nodded and allowed Clint to pull her into his arms.  
"What are we going to do, Tasha?" He whispered.  
"I'm going to find a way to make sure that my daughter gets out of this. No matter what happens, I _will_ get my baby girl home where she belongs."

* * *

When Dustin entered their bedroom, Lexi pretended to be asleep. She listened as he changed into his pajamas and brushed his teeth in the attached bathroom. She felt the bed dip as he crawled in behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist.  
"I know you're not asleep." He whispered into her ear as he kissed her neck.  
Lexi sighed and rolled over to face him. "She thinks I don't love her anymore."  
"No she doesn't. She's doubting whether or not you know that she never stopped loving you."  
"Dustin?"  
"What, Lex?"  
"Were you serious when you said you'd be there if I needed you?"  
"I was."  
Lexi nodded. She shifted so she was curled into his side with her head on his chest and smiled slightly when he held her tightly against him.  
"Thank you."  
"Always." He whispered.  
She lifted her head and kissed him softly before resting her head on his chest again. Within minutes, she was asleep.

* * *

The next morning, and every morning for a week after that, Dustin and Lexi were in the gym even before Steve got there. They sparred for hours, until they were bruised and aching. The rest of the team left them alone for the most part. They all knew what Lexi's mission involved and they all knew that the only thing that could help was for them to be together.  
Finally, after a week of near-constant sparring, Natasha approached them in the gym.  
"Fury wants you in the conference room in 10."  
Lexi nodded and climbed off Dustin. After a quick shower, she and Dustin walked into the conference room. Natasha and Clint were already in there, but other than that, it was empty.  
"Agent Stark, please remain outside." Fury said.  
"Not a chance." Lexi replied. "If you're sending me on a suicide mission, I get backup. Dustin's my backup, if you have a problem with that, fire me now."  
Fury smiled at Lexi's feistiness and nodded. "Alright, have a seat then."  
The next two hours were spent going over every detail they had about Shostakov and figuring out a plan. Finally they had it.  
He was in Paris currently, and that's where Lexi and Dustin would be shipped to. Dustin was going to stay at the hotel- in his Iron Man armor of course- unless everything went to hell, in which case he'd be able to get to Lexi in no more than 45 seconds.  
It was obvious that Fury, Clint, Natasha, and Dustin were uncomfortable with the potential for it taking that long, but it was better than any alternatives.  
"Alright, agents. Dismissed. Go pack and get some sleep. We'll be sending a jet to pick you up at 0800, so be ready before then."  
Lexi and Dustin nodded and stood up. Fury had Natasha and Clint stay behind to discuss something else, so Lexi and Dustin used this opportunity to find Tony.

He was in his workshop just as they'd suspected he'd be.  
"Hey kiddos, what can I do for you?"  
"We need the best suit you have." Lexi said plainly.  
Tony blanched, but a quick look at Lexi told him she was serious.  
"What? Why?"  
"I'm going with her on her mission. I'm not going to let her kill one of the most dangerous people in the world without backup." Dustin said calmly.  
"So let someone else go! hell, I'll go if you so desperately want Iron Man. We don't need to lose two kids."  
"We're not kids, Tony." Lexi said.  
"Like hell you're not! There's no way I'm letting you go with her, Dustin."  
"Then it's a good thing I already have my own suit."  
Instead of answering, Tony pulled out his phone and called Pepper.  
As she picked up, her voice filled the workshop.  
_'Tony, I'm busy.'  
_"This is more important."  
_'How do you figure?'  
_"Dustin wants my suit so he can follow Lexi on her suicide mission."  
_'What?!'  
_"I'd get to my workshop now if I were you." Tony said. A click sounded and the call ended.  
Tony went back to work acting as though Lexi and Dustin weren't in the workshop. 10 minutes later, Pepper came running through the doors.  
"What the hell are you talking about, Tony?"  
"Ask him for yourself." Tony said, gesturing to the agents.  
"Dustin, what they hell?" Pepper asked.  
"I'm going with Lexi as her backup. I'm not going to leave her stranded on the other side of the world with people who don't know her as well as I do."  
"Dustin, you can't possibly think I'm going to let you go-"  
"If you won't let me go on this mission, what was the point of me becoming a SHIELD agent?"  
"R&D!" Tony called from under one of his cars.  
"Bull shit." Dustin said calmly.  
Pepper continued to stare at her nephew. "Dustin, why?"  
Dustin sighed and wrapped his arm around Lexi's shoulders.  
"Because I love her. I'm not going to sit back and watch as she's sent on a mission that could easily kill her."  
Pepper sighed and a smile crossed her face. "Your dad was just as noble. Don't end up like him."  
"I wouldn't dream of it. But I won't let her end up like my mom."  
Pepper nodded. "Alright. Tony, give him your best suit."  
"Wait, what?"  
"He's going to go no matter what we say. I'd much rather have him as well protected as possible."  
Tony sighed. "I don't have a suit that will work for him."  
Lexi, Pepper, and Dustin all turned to glare at him.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm serious. I'm not saying I won't give him one, I'm just saying that at the moment I don't have one that will fit him."  
"How long will it take to change one of them to fit me?" Dustin asked.  
"When do you leave?"  
"0800."  
"Shit. Sorry, Pep. Guess I'm not sleeping tonight. If I work straight through the night, with absolutely _no _interruptions, I might be able to get it done but 7:30."  
Dustin nodded. "Thanks."  
"Don't thank me yet. Go get yours and go over every inch with a fine-toothed comb. If I can't get one adjusted for you, you'll have to use the one I made for you. So make sure everything is working exactly as it should be."  
Dustin nodded and went to a cabinet. He pulled out a blue and gold case, and in less than a minute he was in his own Iron Man suit.  
As they watched their respective men work, Lexi leaned into Pepper's side and Pepper wrapped her arm around her niece.  
"Pepper?" Lexi asked softly.  
"Hmm?"  
"Please make sure my family doesn't do anything stupid. I can't be worrying about them."  
Pepper nodded and Lexi gave her a hug.

After another few hours, Dustin had determined that his suit was fully functional, and he pulled Lexi up the stairs to their room as Tony continued to work on a suit and Pepper worked at a nearby desk.  
After they'd changed into their pajamas, Lexi stared out the floor to ceiling window that made up an entire wall. In the reflection of the glass, she saw Dustin come up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist.  
"Promise me you'll be there?" She asked.  
"Only if you need me." He replied honestly.  
They were quiet for a few moments, when Lexi suddenly remember what Dustin had said earlier.  
"Do you really?" She asked.  
"Really what?"  
"Really love me? Or were you just saying that to Pepper?"  
"I really love you."  
"I love you too."  
"Good." Dustin said, causing Lexi to laugh.  
"Come on, hotshot. We need to get some sleep."  
Dustin nodded and followed her to the bed. After they were both under the covers, Lexi laid her head on his chest and tangled their feet together while Dustin wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly into his side. With one last kiss, they fell asleep, both dreading what was coming for them.

* * *

**So I guess this story is going to be more angsty than I'd originally intended. Oops.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated! It'll probably be a while before I upload again, unless I can get another chapter out tomorrow. I've got a dance concert at my school on Thursday and Friday, which means all this week I'm essentially going to be living at my school. Thank you in advance for all your patience, and I'll try to get a chapter or two out during the week if I can, but don't hold your breath.  
Also, discord chick mentioned something in a review to me, and I just wanted to clear it up for all of you guys, since my original with the explanation died when my computer went stupid. Lexi and Dustin haven't been living together since they were 16, that's just how long they've been dating. They just moved in together, like within the last few days, which is why Clint's acting the way he is. When the story starts and it says Dustin's in his room, I meant his old room on Tony and Pepper's floor, since they haven't really had a chance to move all his stuff to their floor. If you don't approve of people living together before marriage, I'm sorry and I don't mean to offend you, but these are my characters, and I have to listen to them when they put ideas in my head.  
On to the story!**

* * *

At 5:00 the next morning, Lexi's alarm went off, jerking her and Dustin from their semi-peacefull sleep.  
"Nooo." Lexi groaned as her hand escaped the covers and slapped around on her nightstand for her phone, which she promptly shut off.  
"T'm t'get up?" Dustin asked, his voiced muffled by his pillow.  
"Mmph." Lexi replied. "Dn wanna."  
Dustin sighed and blearily opened his eyes. A look at the bedside clock told him it was 5:02. Definitely time to get up.  
"C'mon, Lex. Up we get."  
"Do I have to?" She whined as she pulled the covers over her head.  
"Yes. Come on, Lexi. We need to get ready to go." Dustin said softly as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.  
Lexi sighed and cracked one eye open at him, looking more adorable than she had a right to.  
"You know we need to get up, Lex. T-minus 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 37 seconds before we need to be on our way to Paris."  
"Don't remind me, please." Lexi said as she rolled over and cuddled into Dustin's chest.  
"Lexi?"  
"I'm scared, Dustin." Lexi whispered, refusing to look at him. "I can't do this, there's no way."  
"Yes you can."  
"What makes you so sure? Everyone at SHIELD says-"  
"Fuck everyone at SHIELD." Dustin interrupted her. "They don't know you like we do. Do you really think Clint and Natasha would let you go if they weren't 1000% sure you could do it? Do you really think They'd let SHIELD send their daughter off to get killed?"  
"No." Lexi whispered.  
"See. If two of the best assassins in the world are confidant we can do it, then so am I. Now, let's get up and get ready. We still need to see if Tony finished the suit for me."  
Lexi sighed again and nodded. She pulled herself into a sitting position and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. After a few moments, she propelled herself up and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. After a few minutes, Dustin heard the water turn on in the shower and smiled to himself as he climbed out of the bed. Their bags were packed for the most part, aside from a few last minute things they'd need. When Lexi emerged from the bathroom, Dustin went in and showered, leaving Lexi to finish her packing. As she was folding up her bow and storing it, she noticed her hands were shaking slightly, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make it stop.  
She was so engrossed by her hands that she didn't notice Dustin leave the bathroom until he was standing next to her.  
"Lex?" He asked softly, taking her hands in his. "What's going on?"  
Suddenly, Lexi jumped up from the bed and jerked out of Dustin's grasp.  
"Lexi?" He asked, concern seeping into his voice.  
"I'll be back." She whispered before turning and running from the room. Dustin sighed, but didn't try to follow her. He knew she'd be back before they had to leave, and smothering Lexi never ended well.

* * *

At first, Lexi had no idea where she was going. It wasn't until she was standing in front of her parents' bedroom door that Lex realized she'd been headed here all along. Quietly, she opened the door and slipped inside; she could make out her parents' sleep ing forms and for a moment considered turning around, but she was still shaking, and she really wanted her mom to hold her.  
Lexi climbed onto the foot of their bed, knowing better than to actively try to wake her parents up when they weren't expecting it. Instead she sat criss-cross on their bed and stared at her mother, knowing she'd wake up soon.  
Sure enough, 3 minutes later, Natasha stirred before sitting up suddenly, her gun trained on Lexi.  
"Lex? What are you doing here?" Natasha asked when she recognized her daughter. She put the safety back on and put the gun on the side table, but Lexi didn't move.  
"Alexis, what's wrong?"  
"I-I-"  
"Hold on." Natasha said. She turned to her husband and started nudging him awake. "Clint. Clint, wake up. C'mon, Clint. Wake up."  
Finally, Clint jerked awake. He would have smacked Natasha in the face when he sat bolt upright, if it wasn't for her reflexes.  
"Huh? Tasha? Wass goin' on?" He mumbled as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hid is face in her neck.  
"Can you go start coffee? We'll be out when we're done in here."  
"We?" Clint said looking around, only just noticing Lexi on his bed. "Lex, what's wrong?"  
"Coffee, Clint. Lex and I need to talk. I'll fill you in later, ok?"  
Clint nodded and kissed Natasha's cheek and Lexi's head before leaving the room.  
When the door closed, Lexi allowed the tears to seep from her eyes, but she still refused to move.  
"Come here, Lex." Natasha said as she held her arms out.  
Lexi crawled up the bed until she was situated under the covers with her head on Natasha's shoulders.  
"What's bugging you, маленькая девочка?" _'Little girl?'  
_Lexi took a shuddering breath before she spoke. "I'm not ready, Mama. I'm so scared. I don't know why they gave me this mission, but I can't do it. I-"  
"Shh, Lexi. You need to breathe, sweetie." Natasha interrupted as she stroked her daughter's hair. "You're more than capable of doing this, I know you are."  
"How do you know?" Lexi asked softly.  
"Because I know you." Natasha replied giving her daughter a hug. "I know you, and I know you can do this, and do it better than some agents could."  
"Can't you come with me, Mama?"  
"Don't you trust Dustin?"  
"Of course I do! I'd just feel even better if you could come."  
"I would too, but I can't. I need to stay here and make sure that Ali and Stasia don't do anything stupid. Same goes for Ceara."  
"What about you and Daidí?"  
"We always do stupid things, we're used to it." Natasha replied with a smile.  
After a few moments of silence, Natasha pressed a kiss to Lexi's head.  
"Come on, Lex. Dwelling on it won't help. Let's go get some food in you. And I know everyone is going to want to say goodbye."  
Lexi sighed but shifted to get out of the bed. Natasha began following her daughter, and just as Lexi was about to leave the room, Natasha reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling Lexi around to face her.  
"I know you can do this, because I see myself in you. You won't rest until he's gone. That's why you can do this."  
Lexi nodded and turned to leave the room. Natasha was right behind her and together they mad ether way to the common floor and into the kitchen when they found Dustin and Clint working on breakfast. Lexi sat at the island and smiled briefly at Clint when he set a plate with a waffle and some fruit down in front of her.  
"Eat it." He said before turning back and starting on another plate. Leix picked up the syrup and after dousing her waffle in syrup, she began to eat it.  
After 30 minutes, the entire team aside from Tony was gathered in the kitchen eating waffles and fruit. Dustin sat next to Lexi at the island with Natasha standing next to Lexi. Everyone was sitting at the table, and Lexi did her best to ignore that Stasia and Ali were ignoring her.  
At 7:15, Lexi and Dustin went back to their floor to grab their bags while everyone went to the helipad to wait for them.  
"Lexi, look at me, please." Dustin said.  
Lexi turned to face him but wouldn't meet his eyes. Gently, Dustin placed a finger under her chin and raised her face to meet his.  
"We will make it out of this, Lexi. I swear to you, I will find a way to get you home."  
"Don't make promises you can't keep." Lexi whispered, pain evident in her eyes.  
"I intend to keep this promise. No matter what. You're my priority, Lex. You _will_ come home to your family."  
"What about you?"  
"Well, I like to think that I'll come back with you." Dustin said with a smile. Despite how scared she was, Lexi was unable to stop Dustin's smile from making her feel better, and dammit, he _knew_ it.  
After giving her a hug, Dustin led Lexi from the bedroom and up to the helipad where their family was waiting next to a SHIELD helicopter. Bruce took Lexi and Dustin's bags and placed them in the chopper while their families gathered around them.  
Ceara was the first one to pull Lexi into a hug.  
"I swear to whatever God there is, if you don't come home, I will go out and find you, to hell with the consequences."  
Lexi laughed and nodded, squeezing her sister tightly.  
Bruce was next, and his hug said more than any words could.  
"We both want you to come home." He whispered in her ear, and Lexi knew that if something happened to her, the Hulk would destroy whoever or whatever had hurt her.  
Steve pulled her into a hug and kissed her temple. "Don't do anything stupid." He said with a smile, clearly his poor attempt at lightening the mood.  
Pepper was next, and Lexi could feel the tears slip[ing from her eyes.  
"Remember what I asked you?" Lexi asked quietly.  
"I do. Please do the same."  
Lexi pulled away slightly and nodded, earning herself another hug from Pepper.  
Tony had managed to get to the helipad and he nearly tackled Lexi in a hug.  
"I finished the suit a few minutes ago. Everything works like it should, but please make sure you two don't need it."  
"I'm not promising you anything." Lexi whispered.  
Tony smiled and kissed Lexi's cheek. "Take care of yourself, Little Spider."  
Lexi nodded and turned to where Stasia and Ali were standing. She took a tentative step toward her friends, when suddenly they were running at her and hugging her as tightly as they could.  
"Please don't die, Lex." Stasia whispered.  
"I'm ending this, Stasia. For all of us."  
"Don't be stupid about it." Ali said.  
"No promises. Where are your parents?" Lexi asked suddenly, having just noticed the lack of her favorite Aunt and Uncle.  
"They didn't want to be here to send you off to your death. Dad's words, not mine." Ali said.  
Lexi laughed humorlessly once.  
"If you die, I'll bring you back just to kill you again." Stasia threatened as she finally let go of Lexi.  
Lexi nodded once but before she could speak, a pair of arms were around her, hugging her tightly.  
"Please take care of yourself, Lexi." Clint whispered in her ear. "Please come home."  
"I'll try, Daidí. I'll try like hell."  
"Damn straight." Clint replied squeezing her tightly for a second before releasing her and giving her a gentle push in Natasha's direction.  
Lexi took one look at the tears on her mother's cheeks and ran at her.  
Natasha wrapped her arms around Lexi's body and held her tightly, as if she was scared to let her go.  
"Приходи ко мне домой, девочка. Пожалуйста, приходите домой к своей семье. Не оставляйте меня только пока." _'Come home to me, Baby Girl. Please, come home to your family. Don't leave me just yet.'  
"_Я постараюсь, мама. Я так тебя люблю." '_I'll try, Mommy. I love you so much.'  
_"Я тоже люблю тебя, девочка. Больше, чем ты когда-либо знал." _'I love you too, Baby Girl. More than you'll ever know.'_  
With one last hug, Lexi turned away from her family and smiled when she saw Dustin standing by the chopper with his hand outstretched to her.  
"Let's go get him." He said when Lexi reached him.  
Lexi nodded and allowed Dustin to help her board. As much as she didn't want to, Lexi looked out the window as they took off and nearly started crying when she saw their family watching them leave.  
Dustin wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and Lexi allowed herself to lean into his embrace.  
"Let's go get rid of this monster." Dustin whispered into her ear as Lexi hunkered into her seat for the duration of the flight.

* * *

**There you go! I hope you guys liked it. Next chapter, and probably more, will deal with the actual mission. It'll be my first time writing a mission like this, rather than just doing bits and pieces, so please bear with me.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the long wait! I had a ton of dance stuff at school so I spent hardly any time at home where I wasn't sleeping. I hope this makes up for it though!**

* * *

The flight to Paris was quicker than Lexi expected, but she figured that's what happened when you had access to the fastest jets in the world. When they arrived at a secluded air strip in the French countryside, a group of SUVs was waiting for them, along with a few surprise guests.  
"Phil!" Lexi cried as she got off the plane and saw her parents' handler waiting for her. She broke away from Dustin and ran toward her favorite uncle.  
"What are you doing here?" She asked as they hugged tightly.  
"You didn't really think your parents would let you go without at least a little backup, did you?"  
Lexi smiled and hugged Phil again. "Thank you." She whispered.  
Phil just nodded and led her and Dustin to one of the cars. Once everything was set, they took off for the hotel they'd be using as home base for the mission.  
It was a fairly nice hotel, somewhere they'd have an easy time fitting into without worrying about anyone listening in on their conversations.  
"We start tomorrow after breakfast." Phil said. "Take the rest of the day to relax, Lord knows you'll need it."  
Lexi and Dustin nodded and ten minutes later they were on their way to l'Arc de Triomphe with no less than 15 SHILED agents acting as their discreet security detail. As they were walking, Lexi pulled a scarf out of her bag and wrapped it around her head so that her hair wasn't as noticeable.  
"No need to give him a preview." She said in response to Dustin's questioning look.  
"He won't try anything out here, Lex." Phil said, but her admired her ability to think ahead, a skill he didn't doubt Natasha had taught her years ago.

They spent the rest of the day familiarizing themselves with the city. They wandered down the Champs-Élysées and Lexi couldn't help but act like the 18-year-old she was. She pointed out everything to Dustin and Phil, laughing freely when she spotted the McDonalds on the most famous street in Paris. They walked by the Eiffel Tower and watched as it lit up at night. They stood on the steps of Monmarche and looked out over the city. They wandered the village surrounding the church and Lexi managed to convince Phil and Dustin to eat a crepe with fruit and ice cream at a little bistro they discovered.  
It was only when Phil quietly reminded them that it was time to return to the hotel that Lexi remembered she wasn't here on vacation. Instantly, her joyous attitude disappeared and she returned to the agent she'd been training to be for her whole life. As Phil watched the switch, he couldn't help feeling slightly guilty that he was the one that had to keep her focused.  
He said goodnight to the two of them outside their hotel room, with a reminder to be awake no later than 7:30. With one last hug, he turned and entered the room next tot theirs, no doubt to keep an eye on the building Shostakov was using.  
Lexi and Dustin got ready for bed and after finding that the bed was quite comfy, Lexi fell asleep with her head on Dustin's shoulder and his arms around her.

* * *

7:30 came too early the next morning, but Lexi managed to force herself out of bed and into the shower. When she was done she pulled on her catsuit, an exact replica of her mother's.  
After they were both dressed, Dustin grabbed the Iron Man armor that Tony had managed to fit into a briefcase and they entered the room across the hall. They were unsurprised to find Phil in there waiting for them, coffee and croissants waiting on the table.  
"Eat." He said as he gestured to the food. While they ate, Phil filled them in on the slight changes, but it was nothing major enough to cause them to worry.  
After 4 hours of prepping, they'd exhausted all avenues of stalling, and it was time for Lexi to leave. Phil handed her a comm unit which she promptly stuck in her ear.  
"Make me proud." Phil said with a small smile.  
Lexi nodded and turned to face Dustin.  
"You'll be fine, Lex." He said as he wrapped his arms around her. Lexi pulled away before he could give her much of a hug, but she spoke before he got a chance.  
"Thank you, Agent Stark."  
Dustin nodded once when he realized Lexi's reasoning. "Anytime, Agent Romanoff. Go get him."  
Lexi spared him a smile and made her way to the door, with Dustin following behind.  
"I expect a kiss when I get back." She whispered so that only he could hear.  
"Deal." He replied as he held the door open for her. "Call if you need me."  
Lexi nodded once and stepped into the hallway. She knew Dustin was watching her walk away, which made it even harder not to turn around, but she knew if she did, she'd go running back and beg Phil to send her home. Only when she was in the elevator did Lexi turn around, and even then, all she got was a split second look at Dustin's face before the doors closed and she was sent on her way.

* * *

It didn't take long to locate the building Shostakov was using, especially not with Phil in her ear. It was a rundown warehouse on the outskirts of Paris. Years of disuse had left much of the building unstable and prone to the elements, and Lexi had to fight hard not to shiver at the creepy feeling the building- not to mention the occupant- gave her. As she waited for the patrol to finish and give her the 30 second window she needed, she focused on pushing all the unwanted thoughts from her mind, focusing in on what was expected of her and what she wanted to accomplish.  
As the patrol finished, Lexi took off running at the same time Phil's voice in her ear told her to. She wove through the shadows and managed to get to the side of the building without issue. She picked the lock was was inside before anyone noticed something was off. She made her way through the building to where she knew Shostakov would be. A part of her brain was noticing that there were no guards surrounding his room, but she forced herself to continue. Phil's voice in her ear was a comforting presence, rattling off facts about the building around her.  
She reached her destination and paused outside the door to listen. She could hear the definite sounds of someone inside, and a confirmation from Phil a few seconds later had Lexi picking the lock and stepping inside. She looked around and noticed that most of the room was in shadows and instantly and uneasy feeling came over her.  
"Backup." She breathed, knowing Phil would hear. She just hoped Dustin would show up before anything bad happened.  
Lexi took a few steps into the room with her bow drawn and arrow ready. She heard a noise behind her, but before she could do anything, a sharp sound invaded her ear and she cringed in pain as her comm was fried. She managed to rip it out and turn around, her bow still ready.  
Lexi had seen a lot of things in her life, quite a few of them were horrible. BUt nothing prepared her for when she turned around.  
The man standing in front of her was tallish with brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Lexi had her bow pointed at him, but she was frozen as she looked upon a man who, until very recently, she had believed to be a ghost.  
The man smiled at her, it wasn't a menacing smile, nor was it friendly. After a few minutes, he finally opened his mouth and spoke.  
"Come now, малютка." '_little one.'_ He said, "surely you won't shoot your father?"

* * *

**There you go! I hope you guys liked this chapter, and aren't too mad at me for the cliffhanger.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

_"Come now, малютка." 'little one.' He said, "surely you won't shoot your father."_

Those words brought Lexi out of her freeze and she raised her bow slightly. "You're not my father. I have father, thank you very much. He's at home, with the rest of my family."  
"The family that sent you here to your death?"  
"I'm not the one who's going to die today."  
"Of course not. I'd never kill my daughter. No, you're going to come home with me, aren't' you? Back where you belong."  
"I don't belong anywhere with you."  
"Ah, but you do. You're my child."  
"No. I have a family, and you're not a part of it."  
"You were raised wrong, малютка. You never would have been so disrespectful if you'd grown up like your mother."  
"I'd be dead if I grew up like her." Lexi spat.  
"I would have protected you. Don't you believe that?"  
"What, like you protected her?" Lexi sneered. "That's not really my idea of protection, thanks."  
"She never should have taken you! You were my child, I had the right to keep you!"  
"Oh, please! It's been 18 years. If it really meant that much to you, you would have found me a long time ago. Hell, you would have shown up when Alek kidnapped me and took me to the Red Room."  
"He did what?!" Alexei shouted.  
"Guess you missed that part. Yeah, he wanted to take me to Ivan. My mom found me though, and she killed Alek and Ivan, and everyone else."  
"Good. They were told you were off limits until I got to you. Although I was sad to see that I'd have to rebuild our home after your mother destroyed it."  
"Too bad. But I'm not going with you."  
"You say that now, малютка. But you will. You will return to the country you belong to. You will return and together we can restart the Red Room."  
"No thanks." Lexi said. "I'm much happier with my family."  
"Stop saying family like it means anything!"  
"It does! It means everything. You think you have some right to me because you raped my mom and got her pregnant, but you don't! You took advantage of her when she was young and terrified of you. That doesn't make you a father, it makes you a monster. _My_ father is at home with my mom and my family. He's the one that was always there for me, not you. You have no claim to me, nor to anyone else."  
"малютка, your mother was never scared of anything. Natalia was not the type to get scared."  
"Really? You don't think she was scared of failing when she knew how horrible her punishments were going to be?"  
"It pushed her to do better!"  
"It pushed her to turn into a monster! You turned her into a monster capable of killing innocent children if you told her to!"  
"And yet you're still here."  
"Because my dad saved her. He took her away from you and your brainwashing. She's human again because of him."  
"Humans break. Tell me, малютка, what do you think it will take to break your precious family?"  
"You can try. But they're stronger than you."  
Alexei took a step toward her. "We'll see about that." He said menacingly.  
Lexi only had a split second to register the look on his face before everything went black.

* * *

**Hotel Room in Paris:**

"What the hell was that?" Dustin asked as he heard the high-pitched noise come out of his comm. He pulled it out and rubbed his ears to try and alleviate some of the pain.  
"That was a comm getting jammed and rendered useless." Phil replied.  
"Phil." Dustin said seriously as all the pieces clicked in his head. "What does that mean?"  
"It means she's alone in there with him with no way to talk to us."  
"But she did! When she walked in, she whispered backup! She needs us, Phil!"  
"We can't go in yet. I promised I'd let her try this. If we get no message in the next two minutes, I'll send you in."  
Dustin sighed but nodded. He went to the briefcase and began putting the Iron Man suit on. Phil watched as the suit fit itself against Dustin's body, and tried not to panic as the two minutes came to an end.  
"Anything?" Dustin asked.  
"Nothing." Phil said. "Go find her and bring her home."  
Dustin nodded and went to the balcony where he took off and flew towed the warehouse. He blasted his way into the building, and tried to ignore the feeling in his gut.  
He knew something was wrong. There was no one around to stop him, no one at all. He made his way through the building until he came to the same door Lexi had been at earlier. He kicked the door and watched as it flew open.  
He found a light switch and flicked it on, gasping when he saw the scene before him.  
"Dustin?" Phil asked.  
"Blood." Dustin replied. "There's blood everywhere. Lots of it."  
"And Lexi? Where is she?"  
Dustin took a deep breath. "Gone." He whispered as his world started caving in. "She's gone."

* * *

**I'm so mean, aren't I? Your patience will be rewarded.  
I know this is short, but I wanted it to end here, and I'd stretched this just about as far as I could.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

"What do you mean she's gone?" Natasha screamed into the phone.  
"Exactly that." Phil replied.  
"Where's Dustin?" Phil heard Clint ask in the background. "Put him on the phone."  
"Clint-"  
"Just do it." Clint growled.  
Phil sighed and held the phone out to a very pale looking Dustin.  
"Hello?" He asked softly.  
"What the hell happened?" Clint asked.  
"I don't know." Dustin admitted.  
"What the fuck do you mean you don't know? What the hell kind of a partner waits 2 minutes to go see if their partner is ok? What the hell kind of boyfriend waits to make sure his girlfriend is still alive? What the hell is wrong with you?" Clint yelled.  
"Clint!" Natasha admonished. "Shut up right now. I know you're upset, so am I. But none of this is Dustin's fault. He did what his handler told him to do. And before you attack Phil, he promised Lexi that he wouldn't go rushing into things. Apologize to both of them, and go sit down until you can think rationally and help me get our daughter back."  
Clint sighed. "Sorry, Dustin. I know you did your best. I just want her home."  
"I know." Dustin replied softly. He handed the phone back to Phil so he could talk to Natasha while Dustin went to look at the screen trying to track Lexi's location.  
"We'll figure it out, Tash." Phil said before hanging up.  
"Anything?" He asked Dustin after a few minutes.  
"Possibly in India, Russia, or England. My moneys on Russia, but we don't have anything to go on other than she might be somewhere in the entire country." Dustin said dully.  
"They'll stay away from known Red Room locations." Phil said as he came to stand next to Dustin.  
"So basically, not Moscow and not Volgograd." Dustin said.  
"I agree, it's not much, but it's something."  
"They won't move her much." Dustin added.  
"Not unless they have to." Phil agreed. He rested his hand on Dustin's shoulder. "Take the suit off and get some sleep. You're not going to be any help like this. I'll wake you in a few hours so you can take over watch."  
Dustin nodded and barely managed to get the suit off before he dropped onto the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

The next few months were spent searching every corner of the globe for Lexi. It wasn't long before they decided that Russia was definitely where she was, and with Natasha's help, they ruled out a few areas, but it was still a lot of ground to cover.  
Phil and Dustin had returned to New York after two weeks holed up in the Paris hotel room. When they'd returned, Pepper and Tony had banned him from searching for Lexi for three days, just so he could get more than 2 hours of sleep at a time. After the three days were up though, he was back at it. He worked endlessly alongside the rest of the Avengers and Phil. Stasia, Ali, Ashlyn, and Ceara tried to help as well, but none of their parents were willing to let them know many of the details.  
After 6 months, they final had a solid lead. There was an abandoned warehouse outside of Unecha that had been unused for decades, but a contact in the area told them that recently people were seen going in and out. After some sketches were done, Natasha, Stasia, and Ali identified some of the men as former Red Room workers, and Shostakov had even been spotted once.  
As soon as they had confirmation, Dustin was putting the armor on and making his way to the helipad.  
"You can go on your own." Pepper said as tears filled her eyes.  
"I can and I will." Dustin replied. He turned and gave her a hug. "I need to do this, Pepper. Please."  
Pepper sighed and nodded. Dustin gave her a kiss before stepping onto the jet that had just arrived.

* * *

"We're approaching the drop zone, Agent Stark." The pilot said a few hours later.  
Dustin nodded and stood by the rear of the plane. As the doors opened, Clint's words came floating back to him, _"Bring our little girl home. Whatever you have to do, just bring her home."_  
Dustin closed his eyes and jumped.

* * *

The building wasn't to difficult to find after Dustin had located the city. It was snowing slightly, but Dustin ignored it as he made his way to the exterior. He managed to gain entry easily, and he methodically worked his way through the building until he found Shostakov's room. He blasted the door off the hinges, smirking internally when he caught the Russian off guard.  
"What the hell?" Shostakov asked.  
"You took someone from me, and I want her back."  
"That's too bad, lover boy. If you kill me, you won't know where she is, and the place will blow before you can find her."  
Dustin blanched for a moment, but then he remembered a hidden door he'd seen on the blueprints. "I'm willing to risk it." He said as he blasted Shostakov in the chest before using one of his various weapons to shoot him.  
When he was satisfied Shostakov was dead, Dustin left, making sure no one would be able to get to him. He hurried through the building until he found the door and shoved it open. He flew down the stairs and tried not to let out a gasp when he saw Lexi.  
She was tied to a chair and was unconscious. There was blood everywhere, and Dustin knew instantly that she'd been tortured. He cursed to himself before going and untying her and pulling her into his arms. He made his way out of the building as quickly as he could, barely making it outside before it blew and sent him flying through the air. He was knocked to the ground, but managed to shield Lexi's body from sustaining too much extra damage. He lifted her once again and flew to where the rescue plane was waiting. The doctors had a stretcher ready and they were in the air moments later.

* * *

Pain. That was the first thing Lexi was aware of. Her entire body ached.  
She slowly opened her eyes and realized she was in a hospital room. One of SHILED's no doubt. As she looked around, she noticed a mess of red hair and a smile tried to cross her face, but it hurt too much.  
"Mama." She rasped.  
Natasha jerked awake and looked around before her eyes landed on Lexi.  
"Hey, Sweetie." Natasha said with a smile. She stood up and walked around the bed to where the water pitcher and a cup were waiting. "You scared the shit out of us, you know."  
"Sorry." Lexi rasped as Natasha poured water into the cup. "What the hell happened?" Lexi asked once Natasha had handed her some water.  
"What's the last thing you remember?"  
"Council wanted me to kill Shostakov." Lexi replied, even tough as she said it, something felt wrong.  
"I see." Natasha murmured. She paused slightly before turning her full attention to her daughter. "Lexi, what's today's date?" Natasha asked simply.  
"Umm... July sometime?" But the words brought that feeling back. Something was definitely wrong.  
"No, honey. It's March. It's actually your 19th birthday." Natasha replied. She looked at Lexi for a moment before she had to turn away.  
"Wait, what?" Lexi asked. She'd always heard that there was a difference between hearing and understanding. But it wasn't until now that she fully grasped the difference.  
"You were gone for 8 months, Lex." Natasha whispered without making eye contact.  
And that's when it hit Lexi.

* * *

**There you go! I really need to stop doing cliffhangers, don't you think? No? Oh, ok then. More cliffhangers for everyone!  
The angsty stuff isn't over quite yet, so don't worry!  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

_"No, honey. It's March. It's actually your 19th birthday." Natasha replied. She looked at Lexi for a moment before she had to turn away._  
_"Wait, what?" Lexi asked. She'd always heard that there was a difference between hearing and understanding. But it wasn't until now that she fully grasped the difference._  
_"You were gone for 8 months, Lex." Natasha whispered without making eye contact._  
_And that's when it hit Lexi._

As soon as her mother said that she'd been gone for 8 months, everything flashed back in Lexi's mind. She remembered everything. Talking to Shostakov. Trying to understand the monster he was. Waking up tied to a chair in Russia.  
The torture.  
It explained why she was so sore.  
Lexi was lost in her thoughts for a moment, and it wasn't until Natasha rested her hand on Lexi's shoulder that she snapped back to the present.  
"Lexi. Honey, it's ok if you don't remember. I'm actually a little grateful you don't."  
Lexi didn't answer; she didn't know how. She wanted to tell her mother that she remembered everything, but she didn't think she'd be able to deal with how it would destroy her.  
"I'll give you a little time to rest up. I know the rest of the team will want to visit, but I'll keep them out until you're ready. Unless you want to see anyone now?"  
Lexi thought for a moment. There were only two people she wanted to consider seeing.  
"Where's Dustin?" She asked softly.  
"He's at the Tower. He was by your side up until last night. Then he said he thought you'd be waking up soon and he wanted to give you some time alone. Do you want me to have Happy drive him over?"  
Dustin had been there. But then he'd left. Lexi tried to wrap her mind around it, but found that she couldn't.  
"No. Is Tony here?"  
"Yeah. As soon as Dustin told him you'd been located Tony was determined to stay awake until you were up."  
"Can you send him in?"  
"Of course." Natasha said with a small smile. "Do you need anything from home?"  
"No. I'd just like to talk to Tony if that's ok."  
Natasha nodded and kissed Lexi's head. She made her way to the door, but paused before leaving the room.  
When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. "There are some things that you're better off not remembering, Lex. Please remember that."  
Lexi opened her mouth to respond, but Natasha was already gone.  
She waited in silence for what felt like forever, but finally the door opened. Instead of Tony, however, a doctor walked in.  
"Who are you?" Lexi asked, panicking slightly.  
"My name is Sharon. I've been your doctor since you arrived."  
"Prove it."  
Sharon smiled at Lexi. "I will, just not when you're in pain. I'm just here to give you your pain meds. Before you freak out, this is the first time you've been alone. Dr. Banner was with you during prep and surgery and stayed with you until Dustin was able to enter your room. He was by your side, and awake, constantly. The only time he left was when your mom came in to sit with you. I've been the only doctor allowed near you, and it will stay that way, unless I'm unavailable. In that case, Dr. Banner will take over."  
"Wow." Lexi said when Sharon paused.  
"I'm also your parents' doctor. I know how to deal with you lot."  
Lexi cracked a small smile, but even to an outsider it was obviously forced.  
Sharon pressed a button close to Lexi's hand before rearranging the pillows slightly.  
"That button controls your morphine. If you wake up and need more, give it a push. Don't worry about overdoing it, only a certain dosage will be administered in a time period."  
"Thanks." Lexi slurred as she felt the morphine taking effect.  
"Get some sleep." Sharon said as she exited the room.  
Less that 5 seconds later the door opened again and Tony walked in.  
"Tnee." Lexi mumbled.  
"Shh, little spider. Get some sleep. I'll be here when you wake up and we can talk then, ok?"  
"Kay." Lexi said as she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

When Lexi woke up later, she wasn't in nearly the amount of pain she'd been in.  
Her eyes fluttered open and she looked over to find Tony awake and reading some science journal or something similar.  
"Tony?" She mumbled.  
"Hey there, Little Spider. Sleep alright?"  
"Meh. How long?"  
"About 5 hours. Don't worry about it though. You needed the rest."  
Lexi nodded and tried to sit up, only to find that it took more energy than she was willing to put forth.  
"Whoa there, Lex. Slow down." Tony exclaimed. He put down his reading and came over to her bed's control panel. After pushing a few buttons, the bed slowly started raising up, allowing Lexi to sit upright without expending effort.  
"There you go."  
"Thanks."  
Tony smiled and kissed her head. "Don't worry about it."  
Tony returned to his chair but he kept his focus on Lexi. "Why me?" He finally asked.  
"Huh?"  
"Of all the people in the Tower, why was I the one you wanted to see first?"  
"Dustin was." Lexi replied, trying to make a joke of it.  
"Besides him." Tony said, his tone indicating he was completely serious. "Tell me straight, Lex. Why me?"  
"You were there for me. After New York. I knew that if I woke up at night, I'd be able to wait for a few minutes and you'd show up next to me on the couch."  
"That was 7 years ago, Lex." Tony reminded her. "You haven't needed that since you were 12."  
Tony's eyes were boring into hers, and Lexi couldn't stand to keep looking at him. She turned her head to the side, trying to force herself to think clearly. She knew what she wanted to say, but she didn't know how he'd react.  
"Lex." Tony said softly, bring his hand up to rest on hers. "I can't help you if you won't talk to me."  
Lexi nodded and took a shuddering breath. She just needed more time.  
Tony seemed to sense this, for which Lexi was extremely grateful. He squeezed her hand softly but refused to let go. "Whenever you're ready."

They sat in silence for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. Finally, Lexi seemed to have figured out what she wanted to say. She took a deep breath, drawing Tony's complete attention back to her.  
"I lied." Lexi whispered. Her face was still turned toward the side, staring at the white wall.  
"About?" Tony asked just as softly.  
"Does it count as lying if someone assumes something and you don't correct them?"  
"It depends. What assumption are we talking about?"  
"After Mama told me how long I'd been gone. She just assumed I didn't remember any of it."  
"An understandable assumption. Was she wrong?"  
"I remember everything." Lexi whispered.  
She heard Tony's gasp and turned to look at him. His face was a mask of shock and pain.  
"Are you sure?" He asked, even though he knew that if she was saying it, she was sure.  
"Completely. I remember my conversation with Shostakov. He kept saying that since he's my father he has a right to me, a right to take me wherever he wants. I remember that he was angry when he found out the Red Room had taken me when I was younger. He said something about how I was off-limits until he found me. I remember him calling me малютка. It means 'little one' in Russian. I remember him goading me. I remember that I was about to take the shot, when something hit me on the head. The next two days are the only things I don't remember."  
"Lexi." Tony breathed, the pain in his eyes translating to his voice.  
"I remember waking up tied to a chair in a basement somewhere. He told me it was Russia. I remember being a little bloody, but nothing too horrible. I remember he tried being nice to me, but I wasn't buying it. I remember the first time he hit me. He seemed more upset about it than I was. I remember that after that he didn't hesitate to hit me. I remember-"  
Here, Lexi's voice broke off, and tears started slipping from her eyes. Tony shifted her slightly on the bed and sat down next to her. As her tears changed from silent to full blown sobs, Tony wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest, not thinking twice about his shirt getting ruined.  
Eventually the tears ended and Lexi's breathing event out. Tony thought she'd fallen asleep and was about to reach for his journal to continue reading when her voice interrupted the silence.  
"I remember the man he brought in to torture me." Lexi whispered. "I remember the way he treated me. I remember the way he always smelled like sewers. I remember asking Shostakov why he was doing this to me. I remember him saying 'So that when you return to your slut of a mother she'll see the monster I've turned you into. She'll see that she never should have taken you from me.' I remember the specialist enjoying my pain, feeding off it."  
Lexi paused, and Tony decided to ask the question that everyone on their team had been wondering.  
"Lexi. Did they rape you?" He asked quietly, almost hoping she didn't hear him. He wasn't sure he could handle her response.  
"No. Shostakov told him I was off limits for that. There was another girl, upstairs somewhere. They used her for that. But I remember listening to her crying at night and screaming when they went to her."  
Without thinking, Tony wrapped his arms tighter around Lexi.  
"Tony?" She asked after a while.  
"Yeah?"  
"You're gonna make me tell them, aren't you?"  
"You mom and dad yes. Dustin too, probably. But after that, it's up to you."  
"Will you tell Pepper?"  
"Of course."  
"Is Dustin mad at me? Mama said he left."  
"He's scared. He was the one that took you out of the building."  
"I remember that. Kind of."  
"He still won't tell us exactly what happened. He had an earpiece in, but all we could hear was his conversation with Shostakov and then the sound when he kicked down the door to the basement. When he saw you, all he said was 'Shit, Lex. I need evac in 10.' The next thing we heard was him on the plane, telling us you were on your way here."  
"Oh."  
"Sleep, Lexi. There will be plenty of time to talk with him later."  
"Will you stay? I don't want to be alone."  
"Of course." Tony said as he hit the morphine button. Moments later, Lexi was asleep.

* * *

Lexi woke up with her head resting on Tony's chest, her ear pressed to the arc reactor as the quiet thrumming woke her up.  
"Mmph." She said.  
"My thoughts exactly. When did your head get so heavy?" Tony asked with a smile.  
Lexi rolled her eyes at him, but didn't respond. "How long?"  
"10 hours. It's 8:00 am."  
"Yesterday was my birthday." Lexi said, only now realizing that.  
"I know. Ali was annoyed that she didn't see you at all."  
"It's a thing." Lexi said.  
They both knew she was avoiding the elephant in the room, and she mentally cursed her luck that Tony was one of the few who wouldn't let her dance around it.  
"I'm gonna go get food. I'll send your mom in."  
"That's not necessary." Lexi said.  
"It is. You need to tell her, Lex. Even if you don't want to tell anyone else. She's the one person you _need_ to tell. She can help you more than any of us can."  
"That's what I'm afraid of." Lexi admitted.  
"Don't try running from your fears, Lex. It never works out well." Tony said as he stood up.  
As soon as he closed the door, Lexi reached her hand out to push the morphine button, hoping she'd be asleep, or at least slightly loopy, by the time Natasha walked in.  
But of course her mother was quicker than that.  
When the door opened, Lexi dropped her hand and sighed internally.  
"Tony said you wanted to talk?" Natasha asked quietly.  
Lexi nodded and scooted over so Natasha could sit on the bed next to her.  
"Promise me that you won't get mad until I'm done?"  
"I'll do my best."  
Lexi nodded again and took a deep breath.  
"I remember everything. I didn't at first, but once you told me it'd been 8 months, all the memories came back."  
"Lexi-"  
"Please, Mama. Please let me talk." After Natasha nodded, Lexi continued. "He took me to Russia and left me in a basement. I was tied to a chair all the time, except at night when he tied me to a bed. At first it was like he didn't want to scare me, but then after he hit me once, I think he decided it was better that way. He called in a specialist in torture and left the two of us alone for hours on end. Before you ask, no, I wasn't raped. Shostakov made it clear that that was completely off the table. There was a girl upstairs for that, and when he was done with me, I had to listen to her scream and cry."  
When she finished talking, Lexi turned her face to her mothers and their eyes locked.  
It wasn't for another few minutes that anyone spoke. "I'm sorry, Mama." Lexi whispered.  
"No." Natasha said furiously. "You do not apologize. None of this is your fault, none of it."  
With that, Natasha stood up and stormed from the room while Lexi watched. When the door slammed shut behind Natasha, everyone in the waiting room looked up at her.  
"Tasha?" Clint asked carefully, taking a step closer. "Is everything ok?"  
"No, it isn't fucking ok." Natasha seethed. Her hands were by her sides clenching and unclenching rhythmically. "She was tortured, Clint. For 8 months she was tortured. And she had to listen to a girl scream and cry as she was raped. Every. Day."  
"Tasha-"  
"I'll kill them. Every last one of them."  
"Who?" Steve asked as he rose from his seat. He didn't normally condone killing randomly, but based on what Natasha had just said, these people deserved it.  
"The council."  
"Tash!" Clint said in surprise. "You can't."  
"Watch me. They're the reason this shit happened to her. I'll make them pay."  
Natasha turned on her heal and began walking away.  
Clint ran after her as she left Medical. He caught her after a short while and pulled her into a closet.  
"Get off me, Clint. Or I'll start with you."  
"Hey. I'm not trying to stop you. I just want you to understand what you going down this path will mean for you."  
"I don't give a shit. They're the reason Lexi went through that. They'll pay if it's the last thing I do."  
"Ok." Clint said.  
Natasha nodded once and turned back to the door. She pulled it open and stepped into the hallway with Clint on her heals.  
"Tasha, where are you going?"  
"To Fury. I need approval." She said without breaking her stride. Clint smiled to himself before running to catch up.

* * *

**Oh, watch out, Council. You've got angry assassins out for blood. That won't end well for you.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

As Natasha and Clint stormed down the halls, the many junior agents milling about jumped out of their way. It was common knowledge that you only got in their way when you wanted to die.  
Natasha was two feet away from Fury's door when Hill ran in front of her and stopped her path.  
"What do you think you're doing, Romanoff?"  
"Get out of my way, Hill." Natasha hissed.  
Maria gave Natasha and Clint a thorough once over before nodding and stepping to the side.  
Just as she was about to open the door, Natasha turned back to Maria. "We were never here." She said evenly.  
"Never where?" Hill asked conspiratorially.  
With a faint smile on her face Natasha turned back to the door and shoved it open. Just as she'd suspected, Fury didn't take too kindly to the interruption of his free time.  
"Romanoff! Barton! What the hell are you doing here?" He asked as he stood up to glare at his agents.  
Natasha stepped fully into his office while Clint shut and locked the door.  
"Is your office clean?" Natasha asked.  
"It was as of 10 minutes ago."  
"Good." Clint said from his position behind Natasha.  
"I'm glad I could please you. Would you like to tell me what the hell you're doing in here?"  
"I need their names. Every last one of them."  
"Whose?" Fury asked.  
Natasha's fist slammed down on the director's desk and Clint would have thought Fury flinched if he wasn't talking about the director of SHILED.  
"Who know perfectly well who." Natasha hissed in a quiet voice.  
"Why do you need the council's names?" Fury asked, even though he knew why.  
"Do you want to know what my daughter just told me?"  
"You'll tell me anyway."  
"They tortured her. She was held captive and tortured for 8. Fucking. Months. By her own goddammed father. You know as well as we do that she never should have been given that mission. No one in this organization should have been given that mission besides me and Clint. But the council insisted. They gave her no choice. It was either do the mission or cut all ties with SHIELD and SHILED personnel. They're the reason my daughter went through that hell. So you will give me their names. And you will look the other way."  
"As much as I'd like to, Natasha," Fury said with a sigh. "I don't actually have access to that. The best I can do is give you their pictures and a general location. But you can't use any government tracking program to find them or they'll know. Hell, you probably can't even use Stark's technology."  
"Then we do it old school." Clint said. "But we're doing this, Fury."  
Fury sighed again. "I can't help you. But I would highly advise getting some sleep in your own quarters tonight. It might give you a clearer head for figuring out how to help."  
Natasha and Clint nodded once before turning at the same time and exiting the office. Maria was still waiting outside, but when the assassins passed, she pretended not to notice them.  
Together, Natasha and Clint made their way back to medical. When they arrived, the rest of their team was where they'd left them.  
"Is Sharon in with her?" Natasha asked, gesturing to Lexi's room.  
"No. I went in to check on her and she said she wanted to be alone." Pepper said softly.  
Natasha nodded and made her way to her daughter's room. She knocked softly and pushed the door open.  
Lexi was sitting with her knees tucked under her chin and her face turned toward the wall.  
"Lexi, you can't sit like that sweetie." Natasha said as she made her way closer. "It'll pull your stitches."  
When Lexi didn't reply, Natasha reached out and laid her hand softly on Lexi's shoulder. the instant that Natasha's hand touched her, Lexi jumped slightly and whipped her head around, a look of fear in her eyes.  
"Sorry." Natasha whispered. "Come on, Lex. You can't sit like that. It's bad for your stitches."  
"Why do you care?" Lexi asked quietly.  
"I'm your mother, Lexi. Of course I care."  
"So you're done being mad at me?" Lexi asked as she stretched her legs out.  
"Mad at you? Lexi, I haven't been mad at you since you lied about breaking the vase Clint gave me."  
"Then why did you run away? You promised you'd listen."  
"I did. I thought you were done."  
"I was. But you still ran."  
"I know." Natasha said as she sat next to Lexi. "But not because I was mad at you."  
"Then why?"  
"Because. The stuff you mentioned... I lived through that, Lexi. I had to deal with that every day. Hearing that you had to as well, even if it wasn't for as long, it made me mad. It made me want to scream and cry and snap the necks of everyone responsible."  
"So where'd you go?"  
"To Fury."  
"Is he sending you on a mission?" Lexi asked.  
"No. I'm sending myself out."  
Lexi gave her mother an apprehensive look. "To do what?"  
"Don't worry about it." Natasha said.  
"Don't give me that shit." Lexi said evenly.  
Natasha and Lexi stared at each other for a few moments before it started sinking in.  
"No." Lexi whispered.  
"Lexi-"  
"How is that going to fix anything?"  
"It will. They're responsible."  
"So this is what you're reduced to? Tracking down your _bosses_ for a little revenge?"  
"It's hardly little, Lexi! They're the reason you're here instead of at home!"  
"I don't give a shit! If anyone should be going after them it's me, and you don't see me itching to get out there, do you?"  
"It's not that simple, Lex."  
"The hell it's not." Lexi hissed.  
There was another moment of silence where Natasha and Lexi stared at each other.  
"Why?" Lexi finally asked.  
"They hurt you. You never should have been given this mission. None of the agents should have gotten it."  
"So what, only you and Clint are good enough to do it?"  
"This time, yes. Your first mission should never result in you being missing for 8 months."  
"Whatever."  
Natasha sighed as she stood up. "I'm doing this, Lexi. I'll let you know when I'm leaving."  
Just as Natasha was about to leave, Lexi's voice stopped her.  
"This is what you were like before, isn't it? Before me and before Clint."  
Natasha turned around to see fear creeping back into Lexi's eyes.  
"You go out and kill whoever you want because you're told to or because you think they hurt you somehow."  
Natasha didn't reply as she took a step closer to her daughter.  
"People always used to talk about you behind your back. I'd overhear them call you a cold-blooded killer. A murder. I never believed it, not once. Because I knew that couldn't have been true. You were always so nice and gentle with me. They said you were incapable of emotion, but I knew you loved me."  
"Lexi-"  
"I see it now. Shostakov was right, you're nothing more than a killing machine. Everything else is just an act."  
"Lexi, please-"  
Natasha was nearly back to Lexi's side by this point, and she could see the tears streaming from Lexi's face.  
"Don't hurt me, please!" Lexi cried suddenly, pulling her legs back into her chest and curling into a tight ball.  
"Lexi, I'd never hurt you." Natasha said quietly as she resisted the urge to brush her daughter's hair back from her eyes.  
"Please leave. Please leave me alone. I'll be good, I swear. But please don't hurt me!" Lexi cried again. She brought her eyes up to Natasha's and Natasha gasped when she saw the pure agony in her daughter's eyes.  
Suddenly, Natasha couldn't get far enough away. She turned and ran from the room, intent on running all the way back to her quarters. But Clint caught her after two steps.  
"Tasha." He said softly.  
"Let go of me, Clint." Natasha said, trying to break free of his grip.  
"Not likely. Talk to me." He urged quietly.  
"She's terrified of me!" Natasha exclaimed. "My own daughter is terrified of me!"  
"No she isn't, Tasha."  
"You didn't see her, Clint. She could barely stand to look at me without crying. She was just begging me not to hurt her!"  
Clint sighed and tugged Natasha over to a nearby chair. "Sit down for a while and calm down slightly."  
Natasha nodded and leaned into Clint's embrace.  
While the two of them sat together, Tony entered Lexi's room and found her huddled in the corner.  
"Lexi." Tony said softly. "You need to get back in bed, Little Spider."  
"Don't hurt me, please. Please don't hurt me."  
Tony took a tentative step closer, but stopped immediately when Lexi started shaking even harder. He paused for a moment and was able to make out some of the words she was muttering.  
"Dustin, help me... please, Dustin." She said over and over again.  
"Lexi, do you want me to get Dustin?"  
Lexi's head snapped up and she looked Tony over once before answering. "Is he here?"  
"Not right now. But I can have him come. Is that what you want?"  
"Please." Lexi whimpered.  
"Ok. But he won't be allowed to come in unless you're in the bed, ok?"  
"Ok." Lexi whispered as she tried to stand up. Eventually she managed, but after a couple steps she stumbled and Tony's quick reflexes were the only thing keeping her from face-planting.  
"Easy, Little Spider. I won't hurt you, I promise. Just let me help you, ok? Then I'll go get Dustin."  
Lexi nodded and allowed Tony to help her under the covers. When she was situated, he turned and left the room. He noted without surprise that Clint and Natasha were gone, no doubt getting ready for their off the books mission. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed Dustin's number.  
"Hello?"  
"Get your ass down to the hospital now." Tony said by way of greeting.  
"Hello is usually the proper response." Dustin replied.  
"Listen to me you little shit." Tony said. "Your girlfriend is in the middle of a panic attack. She's terrified of everyone, including her mother. I went in and she started asking for you to help her, despite the fact that you haven't been here since she woke up. So get off your ass and get down here, now. I don't care if you're scared of what you saw. You don't leave the girl you love having in a situation like this. You might have seen her bloody and bruised, but she lived through it. And she needs you, but you're too busy acting like a little girl to be of any use. So grow a pair and be the man she needs." Tony growled.  
There was a pause on the other end before Dustin finally spoke again.  
"Shit. Fuck, Tony. I-I... _fuck._ I'll be there in 10 minutes."  
"That's not good enough." Tony said. "I estimate you have about 7 before she needs to be sedated. Get here and calm her down before that and I might consider not being pissed at you."  
"Ok." Dustin said as he hung up.  
"Did you have to be so hard on him?" Pepper asked quietly as Tony put his phone away.  
Tony turned to face her with a sad smile.  
"Yeah, Pep. I did. It's bad, and he needs to be here for her."  
Pepper sighed and stepped forward to wrap her arms around him, smiling when he reciprocated.  
"Do you really think they'll have to sedate her?"  
"I hope not. But if he doesn't get here in time, there might not me another option before she hurts herself."  
Pepper sighed and nodded. "Clint and Natasha better fix this." She murmured.  
"They will. They've never failed their kids. I don't see them starting now."

* * *

**So. Much. Drama! I think this might be the most drama filled thing I've ever written! Apologies to you if you don't like that, but this is turning into one of my favorite stories, so I'm not likely to stop.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

Dustin came running into medical 5 minutes later.  
"Where is she?" He asked as he cam to stand by Tony and Pepper.  
"In the same room you left her in." Tony said.  
"Tony." Pepper said softly.  
Tony sighed and turned back to Dustin. "Sorry, kid. About everything."  
"It's fine. You were right, I deserved it. I just didn't know how to talk to her. I keep seeing her like that, and it scares me."  
"Dustin, if it was that bad, you should talk to someone." Pepper said.  
"No. Not until I get to see her. She deserves some say in all of this."  
"Well, get in there. Her doctor tried to go in and nothing's changed since I called. She said that if Lex doesn't calm down soon they're going to have to sedate her."  
"Alright. I'll go see if I can do anything." Dustin said as he turned toward Lexi's room.  
When he got to the door, he took a deep breath before he pushed the door open.  
"Oh, Lex." Dustin murmured when he saw his girlfriend.  
She was sitting on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chest, and she was shaking.  
"Please go away. I don't want to do this anymore. Please don't hurt me." She murmured over and over again.  
"Hey, Lex. I'm not gonna hurt you, honey." Dustin murmured as he took a careful step closer.  
"Dustin?" Lexi asked as she finally looked at him.  
"Yeah, it's me. I'm right here, Lex."  
Lexi whimpered in response, but she didn't take her eyes off Dustin. When he finally reached the bed, she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could.  
Dustin was caught off guard but her managed to rearrange himself so that he was sitting on the bed next to her with her curled up into his chest. Dustin murmured comforting words to Lexi as he stroked her hair. Finally her breathing calmed down and she shifted so that she was able to look up at him.  
"I'm sorry." She whispered as her index finger traced over his chest.  
"For what?"  
"Making you see that." She mumbled.  
"See what?"  
Lexi sighed. "The basement. And just now."  
"Hey," Dustin said with a smile. "Don't apologize. Nothing is your fault, absolutely nothing. If anyone should be apologizing, it's me. I'm sorry I haven't been here for you."  
"You were avoiding me." Lexi said.  
"Yeah. And I'm sorry."  
"Why? What did I do?"  
"It wasn't you."  
"Then what?"  
"It was just... seeing you like that, in the basement. It scared me. You looked so tiny and so breakable. Even when I was carrying you out, I didn't know for sure if you were still alive. It wasn't until I got you on the chopper and the medics said you still had a pulse that I realized you were still with me. When I knew you would be alright, I needed time to think over what I saw. Everyone was pressuring me to tell them what I'd seen in the basement, but I just couldn't."  
"You need to, Dustin. You need to tell them what you know."  
"I will. But I wanted to see you first."  
Lexi nodded and they slipped into silence.  
"My parents left."  
"What do you mean left?"  
"I told my mom what happened and she left. When she came back she said the two of them were going on a mission."  
"What did Clint say?"  
"Nothing. He hasn't been in to see me."  
"At all?"  
"Not that I know of."  
"Why?"  
Lexi shrugged. "Tony said that when Phil called after I went missing Clint kind of lost it. He told me that after I was found and brought here, Clint said he didn't want to see me."  
"I find that kind of hard to believe."  
"So do I. But I wasn't really ready for lots of visitors."  
Dustin nodded and continued stroking her hair. He knew how Lexi worked. He knew that forcing anything onto her would make her crack.  
"Get some sleep, Lex. Then maybe we can go home."  
"I don't know if I want to."  
"What do you mean?"  
Lexi sighed again. "That mission my parents went on?"  
"Yeah?"  
"They're going to find all the members of the council."  
"No."  
"Yeah. She told me, and I said some stuff I probably shouldn't have."  
"She knows you didn't mean it."  
"I know. But the thing is, I think I did."  
"Lexi-"  
"No. I didn't mean like that. I just mean," Lexi took a deep breath before continuing. "When he had me, Shostakov did some stuff. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but after the morphine was mostly out of my system, I realized that seeing her made me angry. Irrationally angry. I've never hated my mom, but ever since I've seen her, I can't help it. I think Shostakov put some shit in my head, like Loki did with Clint."  
"Lexi, did you tell anyone else?"  
"No." She whispered.  
"Ok. Get some sleep, and we'll figure out what happened exactly."  
Lexi nodded and shifted to lay more comfortably on his chest and fell asleep with Dustin stroking her hair.

* * *

When Lexi woke up, she couldn't help the smile that crossed her face when she realized that Dustin was still acting as her pillow. But her smile disappeared when she saw that the rest of the Avengers were sitting around her bed.  
"Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty." Dustin whispered as he kissed her head.  
"What the hell, Dustin?" She asked.  
"They need to know." He said.  
"You expect me to believe you didn't already tell them?"  
"He did. But we weren't going to share that unless you figured it out for yourself." Tony said, earning an elbow from Pepper.  
"Sorry, Lex. Dustin wanted to wait until you were awake, but we wanted to know."  
Lexi nodded. "I appreciate that you all care, but I'm not ready to talk about it yet. I'm not saying I won't. I'm just saying that I can't. Not yet."  
"Ok. We'll be here whenever you're ready." Pepper said.  
Before Lexi could reply, the door opened and Stasia and Ali came into the room, followed closely by Ceara and Ashlyn.  
"You're alive!" Ceara exclaimed as she ran toward her sister. When she reached the bed, she gave her sister a hug and squeezed tightly.  
"I'm fine, Ky." Lexi said.  
"No, you're not." Ali said while she gave Lexi a knowing look.  
"But you will be." Stasia said.  
"Why are you girls here?" Pepper asked. "You know you weren't supposed to come in here yet."  
"Haven't you heard?" Ashlyn asked.  
"Heard what?" Lexi asked.  
Instead of answering, Ashlyn grabbed the remote and turned on the TV in Lexi's room. The news program was covering a recent murder, but no one really had the patience to actually watch.  
"Ashlyn." Pepper said. "What's going on."  
"The person they're talking about is one of the members of the council!"  
"What?" Steve asked.  
"I heard Phil talking about it with Maria. He said so."  
"And they were murdered?" Ceara asked.  
"Yeah." Lexi whispered as she turned her face away.  
"Lex?" Stasia asked. "What do you know?"  
Lexi shook her head and refused to answer.  
"Lex, tell us." Ali implored. "What's going on? Does it have to do with what happened to you?"  
Lexi nodded and tried to burrow further into Dustin's chest.  
"But that's over." Ashlyn said. "He's dead and you're back here."  
"It's not over, Ash." Ceara said as she gave her sister a look.  
"It's just beginning." Lexi finished.

* * *

**Hope you guys liked it!  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry! I hit a mental block, and couldn't figure out how to get to where I was in my head. But I fixed it! I think.**

* * *

After Dustin finally got everyone out of Lexi's room, he turned off the TV, not wanting to hear more about the council member Natasha and Clint had killed.  
"Lex?" Dustin asked softly.  
Lexi just continued looking away from him, doing her best not to meet his eyes.  
"Lexi, come on. Just talk to me, ok?" He asked softly.  
"Not ready." She murmured, turning her head.  
Dustin reached his hand out and held her chin lightly, turning it so she had to look at him.  
"Hey. You're not talking to them, ok? Not to our parents and not to our sisters. You're talking to me."  
"You're my boyfriend. I might as well be talking to them."  
"That's true. But right now? I'm your partner, and I want to help you."  
"What if I want out?" Lexi asked softly.  
"Out of what?"  
"Out of SHIELD."  
Dustin gasped in surprise, but he didn't look away.  
"Why?" He whispered.  
"I don't think I can do this, Dustin." Lexi said, her voice growing in volume.  
"What are you talking about, Lex? You've been preparing for SHILED for literally your whole life. What changed?"  
Lexi finally looked away, ashamed of herself for even mentioning it.  
"Hey, sweetie. Look at me, ok?" He said, gently cupping her cheek.  
Lexi sighed but turned her face so that her eyes could meet his.  
"What changed, Lex?"  
"I screwed up." She replied, all the fight gone from her voice.  
Dustin shook his head in disbelief as he wrapped his arms around Lexi's shoulders and pulled her into his body.  
"You didn't screw up, Lex. He caught you off guard."  
"You're not listening to me!" Lexi exclaimed, throwing his arms off of her.  
Dustin froze for a second before moving to get off the bed. Lexi reached out and grabbed his wrist, tugging him back down beside her.  
"Sorry." She murmured. "Just, please, let me talk. Ok?"  
Dustin nodded and allowed Lexi to curl into his side.  
"When he entered the warehouse, I thought I was ready for anything. But then I saw him, and everything went to hell. I took one look at him, and I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything.  
"Then he started talking about Russia, calling it home, and I knew. I knew he was lying. But I couldn't help it. He called himself my father, and for a moment, I let myself picture it. In my head I saw the three of us, Him and Mom and I, as a family. He showed up and it was like seeing a ghost or something. I let myself get sloppy."  
"Lexi." Dustin said when she finished. "You never should have been given that job. I know you're sick of hearing it, but it's true. What happened to you never should have happened, but it did. And it's not your fault."  
"But I screwed up! I let myself act like a helpless little kid! He knew exactly how to play me, and he did! He freaking tortured me! He put some kind of shit in my head, and now I can't look at my own _mother_ without wanting to kill her! And now, my parents are off God knows where killing the people they think are responsible. They'll end up fired, or worse- killed, and it will all be because I fucked up!"  
"Stop. Right now. You shut up and listen to me, Alexis Romanoff. Yes, you made the mistake of listening to him. All it does is prove you're human. Your whole life you thought he was dead, it's only natural for you to want to get to know him. No, I'm not done yet. If you hadn't wanted to listen to him, I'd have been surprised. You need to stop beating yourself up over this, ok? No one blames you, at least no one that matters. He's gone, Lexi. He's dead, and we can move on."  
"But Petrovich isn't. Mama always thought it was too easy when she killed him, and she was right."  
"Ivan is another story. He'll end up the same way. You'll kill him."  
"But I didn't kill Alexei. You did."  
"Lex-"  
"No, Dustin. You're the reason he's dead, not me. I was too weak to stop him. You're fully competent, and I think I've been kidding myself. I don't think I can be an agent."  
Dustin was quiet after Lexi spoke, trying to digest what she was saying. Finally, he spoke.  
"So what do you want, Lex? What are you saying?"  
"I don't know."  
"Well, you can think on it in the car. Let's go, Lex, you're coming with me." A voice said from the doorway.  
Lexi turned her head and stared at the intruder in shock.  
"Clint?" She whispered. "What are you doing here?" She asked louder.  
"I'm getting you out of here." He said simply as he walked into the room.  
"Was I discharged?" Lexi asked.  
"You're Natasha Romanoff's daughter. You were never expected to spend this much time in medical. Everyone bet that you'd sneak out at least once the first day you were awake."  
"Where are we going?"  
"Dustin is going to take Tony's car back to the tower."  
"What about us?" Lexi asked as Dustin helped her from the bed and she took the clothes Clint was offering.  
"We're gonna have some bonding time."  
"Is Ky coming?"  
"Nope. It's just us."  
"Does she know you're back?"  
"I dunno. Come on, kiddo. Get your clothes on and let's get out of here. Dustin, close your eyes."  
Lexi chuckled as Dustin snapped his eyes shut and she pulled on the sweatpants and shirt Clint had brought for her.  
"Alright, let's go." Clint said before turning around and leading the way out of the room. Dustin grabbed Lexi's hand and walked with her to the elevator, unsurprised to find that the Avengers had left. Clint was waiting in the elevator for them, and he pushed the button for the lobby and the underground parking garage where Dustin was heading.  
"Did you guys do it?" Lexi finally asked, knowing Clint would understand.  
"Come on, Lex." He replied, giving her a look that told her he'd explain later.  
Lexi nodded and turned to kiss Dustin goodbye before following Clint from the elevator.  
"Umm, are we going to the tower first? Cause I don't have anything with me."  
"It's in the car."  
"How-"  
"Pepper knows." Clint answered, giving Lexi a smile.  
"Cl-Daidí? Can I ask you a question?  
"You don't have to call me that. I know you call me Clint."  
"Sorry." Lexi said and turned to look at the ground.  
"It's ok. Especially now."  
Clint continued walking, until Lexi called out to him.  
"You didn't say anything about the question!"  
"You already asked me one." He said with a smile.  
"Fine. Can I ask you a couple questions?  
"That was your second." Clint said, his smile growing.  
"Ugh! Can I ask you some questions?" Lexi tried again, trying her best not to laugh.  
"I dunno, can you?" Clint asked, his smirk covering his face by now.  
"You're ridiculous. _May_ I ask you some questions?"  
"You may ask. I don't promise to answer." Clint said  
Lexi nodded and thought over all the questions swirling around in her brain. _Where's Mama? Are you really going to kill everyone? _"Why didn't you visit me?" She finally asked, surprising herself, and judging by his reaction, surprising Clint as well.  
Clint turned to face her with a pained look on his face. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the SHILED lobby, which looked just like a lobby in an office building. He walked with Lexi over to one of the couches and sat down, pulling her next to him.

"When you were missing, I thought of nearly every possibility, every worst-case scenario. But in each and every one of them, you never came back. You always ended up dead, or worse, a soldier."  
"You had that little faith in me?"  
"No. But I know what he was capable of, I know what he's done." Clint wiped his hand over his face and sighed deeply before continuing.  
"I know you don't remember much about when I brought you and your mother in, but I remember all of it. She was broken, hell, she was fucking shattered. I know it wouldn't have seemed like that to you, but I also didn't let you see her for two weeks. Not long after SHILED started observing her, she went into withdrawal from the drugs they'd pumped into her. At first, she was moody, but other than that she was fine. Then came the part I thought was the worst, although I was wrong. She started begging to die. I would go check on her and she would beg me to just kill her. She was in so much pain, it sent her body into shock. The 48 hours after that were the worst. I didn't sleep for two and a half days because I thought she was going to die. All the doctors did. She managed to pull through, obviously, but when I first saw her afterward, her eyes were lifeless. It wasn't until she saw you again that I realized there was still hope for her, for both of you."  
"I don't see what that has to do with you not visiting me." Lexi said softly, trying to understand where he was going.  
Clint sighed and reached out, tucking a piece of Lexi's bright red hair behind her ear. "I didn't want to think about the possibility of you being that broken, that shattered, I couldn't handle it. I was terrified that if I saw you like that, I'd never be able to see you as anything else. I couldn't bear to see the bright, vivacious little girl I'd helped raise that broken. I figured, stupidly of course- because when are my thoughts ever anything else- that if I didn't go in, if I didn't let myself see that, I'd be able to pretend that it never happened. That it was just like when you had your appendix taken out when you were 13."  
"So it was because of me?" Lexi asked carefully.  
"No. It's because of _him._ It's all because of him."  
Suddenly, Lexi stood up and turned away from Clint. Before he could really react, Lexi was walking out the front doors, so Clint jumped up and tarted to follow her.  
Lexi found his black Explorer easily and knew the doors would be unlocked, so she opened the shotgun door and got in, moving her pillow from her seat and leaning it against the window before she curled up in her seat and closed her eyes.  
She heard Clint get in the car and start the engine, but she refused to open her eyes.  
Lexi finally managed to actually fall asleep, but she always felt Clint's eyes on her when he looked at her for more than a second. After the first few hours, Lexi lost track of time, but she wasn't worried. As annoyed with Clint as she was, she knew he wouldn't let anything happen to her, at least not without a fight.

* * *

"Lexi." Clint whispered, brushing her hair back from her face. "Come on, Lex."  
Lexi opened one eye and gave Clint a look, not unlike a cat would when roused from a delightful nap.  
"Come on. We're almost there."  
"Then why am I waking up?" Lexi grumbled into her pillow.  
Clint chuckled. "We have to hike the rest of the way there." He said easily.  
"Don't wanna." Lexi mumbled.  
She heard Clint sigh, and then a moment later his door closed. Lexi couldn't help the satisfied smile that crossed her face as she thought he was finally leaving her alone.  
Which was, of course, when her door opened and she started falling out of the car, until Clint grabbed her around the waist and caught her, saving her form even more bruises.  
"Easy there." He said with a smile.  
"That was mean." Lexi whined.  
"I'm not carrying you and the bags." Clint said as he set her on her feet.  
Lexi huffed and started walking. She heard Clint clear his throat behind her, and she turned, indignant.  
"You're going the wrong way."  
"Maybe I want to go this way." Lexi shot back.  
"That's fine. If you want to sleep with bears and wolves and shit." Clint said.  
"Well, maybe I know a shortcut." Lexi said, still unwilling to give in.  
"There isn't one." Clint replied as he grabbed their bags from the back seat.  
"Fine." Lexi huffed and started following him down a path that she would definitely have missed on her own.  
Lexi and Clint walked in silence for a while, before they finally reached a large clearing.  
"Finally." Lexi said. "I was starting to winder whether we'd ever get here."  
Clint just smiled and pointed to a structure at the other end of the clearing. "We're not there quite yet." He reminded her.  
"What is this place?" Lexi asked. "Why is it so secluded."  
"I didn't want SHILED to know about it."  
"Do they?"  
"Not as far as I know."  
By that point, they'd arrived at the building, and Lexi gasped.  
"It's gorgeous." She breathed as she climbed the steps to the wrap around porch.  
"Thanks. I built it."  
"Wait, what? You built this? With what?"  
"My hands. A couple saws. Some trees."  
"How?"  
"They did it on the prairies with less." Clint said with a shrug.  
"When?" Lexi asked.  
"After I knew for sure that Natasha wasn't going to die and that SHIELD was going to keep her."  
Lexi nodded as she followed Clint in.  
"I've added to it over the years, since some things have changed."  
He put the bags on the floor by the front door and turned to face Lexi.  
"Come on, I'll give you a tour." He said as he began leading her through the hall.  
"This is the kitchen, I have food in the car, so don't worry about that. Before you ask, which I know you will, yes, there is electricity and plumbing, thank you very much."  
Lexi laughed, and Clint was glad to hear that it still sounded like bells.  
"There's a living room through there," Clint said as they walked back down the hallway to the front of the house where a stair case was waiting for them.  
"All the bedrooms are upstairs." As they walked down the new hall, Clint gestured to the rooms as they were mentioned.  
"That's mine and Natasha's. Guest bedroom. Ceara's room, with her own bathroom, because no one should have to share with her. Yours is at the end of the hall, with your own bathroom as well."  
Clint gestured for Lexi to go in front of him, and she complied. She opened the door and couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. The walls and ceiling were black, and the floor was made of the same wood as the exterior of the house. All the furniture was white, giving the room a nice contrast.  
Lexi ran her fingers over the desk and the vanity before opening a door to find a walk in closet. She was looking around, slightly surprised to find clothes already waiting for her, when she heard a noise in the bedroom and went to investigate. As she stepped out of the closet, she saw Clint setting her bag down by the door with a sheepish smile on his face.  
"You can shower if you want, and I'll get working on dinner."  
Lexi nodded and without warning threw her arms around Clint's neck and hugged him tightly.  
"Thank you, Daidí." She whispered.  
"Don't worry about it, Is breá." He whispered back. _Love._  
Lexi finally released him and turned to look for pajamas in her bag while Clint gave her one last smile and left to start dinner.

* * *

Lexi emerged 30 minutes later with her wet hair tied back in a fishtail.  
"You're just in time, dinner's ready." Clint said when she walked into the kitchen. She sat at the island and smiled when Clint set a plate of pasta down in front of her.  
They ate in silence for a while before Lexi spoke.  
"So, where exactly is this place?" She asked.  
"New Hampshire." Clint answered. "I bought the property when I was contemplating running from the law. But Phil found me just after I bought it, so it went unused for years. Until you and Natasha showed up."  
Lexi nodded and looked around at her surroundings.  
"So what are we going to do here?" She asked.  
"We're going to fix you. We're going to get the shit Shostakov shoved in your head out."  
"How did you know?" Lexi asked.  
"Pepper mentioned it. But even if she hadn't, I would have known. I know what it looks like."  
"Was Mama ok with you leaving?"  
"She practically kicked me out." Clint said with a smile.  
"When do we start?" Lexi asked as she pushed her now empty plate away.  
"In the morning. Sharon gave me these for you. They'll knock you out and keep you out for at least 12 hours. And I need you to be rested."  
Lexi gave the pills Clint was holding out skeptically.  
"They're safe, I promise. They're the same thing you were on in the hospital, just in pill form."  
Lexi sighed but held out her hand. Clint deposited two, and Lexi downed them with the rest of her water. Clint told her to get to bed, and as she started walking up the stairs, she heard him cleaning up in the kitchen.  
She barely made it to the landing before she was starting to feel tired, but she forced herself to keep going. She managed to get to her room and on the bed, but getting under the covers or turning off the lights wasn't going to happen.  
Clint came up the stairs a few minutes later and chuckled softly when he saw Lexi.  
He went to her side and lifted her in one arm while using to the other to pull back the covers before he set her back down gently. He pulled the covers up to her shoulders and kissed her head gently.  
"I will fix this, Lexi. I promise you I will find a way to fix you." He whispered.  
With one last kiss, Clint turned and walked toward the door, where he turned off the light and closed the door.  
As he walked back to his own room, he knew he was right. Somehow, he'd find a way to fix his daughter. He didn't know how he'd do it, or how long it would take, but that didn't worry him.  
He knew it might be painful, but he also knew it had to be done. But whatever happened, he _would_ fix his daughter. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

* * *

**There you have it. I had a few people ask me what was going on with Lexi and Clint, and now you know. I swear I didn't originally intend for this to be so angsty, but I've grown to love it so much, so it'll stay that way. I'm still hoping for a happy ending, but I don't know when (or if) that will happen. I'm going to try and slow the story down a bit, at least for the next part. I really want to focus on Clint and Lexi, and seeing if Clint can help Lexi as much as Lexi helped Clint toward the end of Baby Girl.  
One more thing: I'm GRADUATING on Thursday, guys. I'm officially done with compulsory education! Now I have to figure out ****_exactly_**** what I want to do in college. But anyway, I just wanted to let you all know, so you can share in some of my happiness.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated. I found out that I tore my ACL and my Meniscus in my right knee and, if my author name wasn't enough of a clue, I'm a dancer, and have been for the last 15 years. But now I have to get surgery, and the worst part is, it's the day after what would have been my last dance recital- ever. Which means I don't get to preform, and it's the second year in a row that I haven't been able to preform, because last year I broke my foot right before our show. Anyways, I was in a really bad place and I tried writing, but I somehow managed to kill everyone, and something told me you guys didn't want to read that. So hopefully this is at least a little bit better.**

* * *

When Lexi woke up the next morning, she panicked momentarily at the unfamiliar surroundings, until she remembered that Clint had brought her to the middle of nowhere.  
She climbed out of bed and went to the closet to pick through the clothes Pepper had sent with her, before finally deciding on a pair of jeans, and navy blue tank top, and a navy blue and white flannel shirt, which she left unbuttoned. She pulled on her boots and pulled her hair into a ponytail before brushing her teeth and finally leaving her room.  
The house was silent as Lexi made her way down the stairs, and she worried for just a moment that Clint had left her stranded out here, until she went into the kitchen and found a plate with eggs, bacon, and a waffle on the counter accompanied by a note with Clint's distinctive handwriting.

_Lex-  
Eat everything on the plate, you'll need it when we get started. When you've finished, come find me. I'll be chopping firewood on the south side of the house.  
We'll figure this out, one way or another.  
Clint_

Lexi smiled at the note before grabbing the food and a fork and moving to one of the seats. As she ate, she tried not to let herself focus on exactly what Clint was planning, but it wasn't easy to forget what he'd told her about when her mother had come in. Finally, she managed to finish her breakfast and after putting the dishes in the dishwasher, she stepped out onto the porch and glanced around.

In the morning sunlight, Lexi could easily see why Clint had picked this place. It was secluded, but it gave off the feeling of safety rather than of being a prisoner, something she was starting to appreciate more and more. As she looked around, she realized that Clint wasn't anywhere to be seen. After another moment of panic, she remembered his note, and set about figuring out which side of the house was the south side.  
Sure enough, 2 minutes later, she found him, standing just outside the line of the surrounding trees, chopping wood. As she made her way over to him, she couldn't help the smile that crossed her face.  
"Don't say it." Clint said when she finally arrived.  
"Say what?" Lexi asked innocently.  
"Something about being a caveman." Clint replied without looking at her.  
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Lexi said, still trying to feign innocence.  
Clint split the log in front of him before looking up at Lexi with a look that plainly said, _yeah right._  
"Why did it take you so long?" Clint finally asked. "The door closed five minutes ago."  
Lexi sighed. "I got distracted. It's beautiful here."  
Clint just nodded. "How did you find me."  
"You told me where you'd be." Lexi said, confusion creeping into her tone.  
"No, I told you which side of the house I'd be on. How did you determine this was the South side?"  
"The sun." Lexi said, finally understanding what he was asking. "I turned until it was on my left. Then it was just a matter of walking until I saw you."  
Clint nodded, satisfied. He stuck the ax into the stump he'd been using and began walking toward a clearing closer to the house, gesturing for Lexi to follow. Eventually, Clint stopped and sat on the ground, criss-cross. When Lexi stood over him, he motioned for her to do the same and she complied, sitting across from him on the warm ground.  
They stared at each other for a while, before Lexi finally spoke.  
"So, how is this going to work? Are you just going to poke around in my head and hope you find what you're looking for?"  
Clint shook his head. "No. You're going to do the poking around. You're going to figure out what doesn't belong in your head, and then you're going to learn how to get rid of it, in whatever fashion you feel comfortable with."  
"You make it sound so easy." Lexi murmured, tilting her head to look down at the ground. Clint reached over and laid his hand on Lexi's knee. He kept it there until she finally lifted her head and looked at him.  
"It's not. Make no mistake about that, Lex. It's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be fun, but it needs to happen. You need to do this."  
"For you? Or for mom?"  
"For yourself. If you don't learn to fight the shit in your head, you'll never be able to trust anyone completely again. Not even yourself."  
Lexi sighed. "I know." She whispered.  
"We'll take it easy, Lexi. I won't push you, so it will ultimately boil down to how much you're willing to push yourself. I won't make you stop, not unless I see that you're in pain."  
Lexi sighed once again, and nodded. "Let's get started then." She said firmly.  
Clint nodded and took his hand away from her knee.  
"First things first, tell me what it feels like when you see your mom."  
"What?"  
"What do you want to do when you see her."  
"Let her hold me." Lexi said after a moment.  
"No. Not what do you think you should want to do. What is your gut reaction when you see her? If she were to walk into this clearing right now, what would you want to do to her when you saw her?"  
Lexi shuddered, but forced herself to answer. "I'd want to kill her." She whispered. "But I know that's wrong! I know I'd never let myself do it!" She exclaimed a moment later.  
"It's not wrong, Lex. That's what your head is telling you to do. That doesn't mean that's really what you'd do if you saw her."  
"But how do I fix it?" Lexi pleaded.  
"First things first, you need to be patient. This isn't some miracle cure, Lex. It'll take time, ok?"  
Lexi nodded and pulled her knees up under her chin as she wrapped her arms around them. "So what do we do now?"  
"Nos is where it gets difficult. I need you to talk to me."  
"About what?"  
"About what you remember."  
"All of it?" Lexi asked apprehensively.  
"As much as you can." Clint answered with a nod. "I'd like to figure out exactly where in your memory things changed."  
Lexi nodded and took a deep breath, readying herself. "For the first week we moved around Europe, a new city everyday. Halfway through the second week, he said we'd finally arrived in Russia. But even then we moved around for the rest of the week, until we were finally at the building Dustin found me in."  
"Ok. So it wasn't during the first two weeks." Clint said as Lexi took a break to breathe.  
"It wasn't anytime the first month I was at the building either. He spent the first 6 weeks trying to be nice to me. I was only ever unconscious when I was asleep, and I know that wasn't because of any drugs because he always took a bite of whatever food he brought me before expecting me to eat any of it."  
Clint nodded, and Lexi took that as a cue to continue. "It was at the beginning of the 7th week that he started being more aggressive. He wanted me to tell him more about you and Mama and Ceara, but I refused. He finally got so mad that he slapped me. After he realized what he'd done, something in his eyes changed and I think that was the moment he realized he could get more out of me if he hit me. But even then, I remember just wanting Mama to come find me, wanting to hug her and never have her let go of me."  
"Ok. When do you remember that changing?" Clint asked easily.  
"Just after the specialist was brought in. It was around the same time I started hearing the girl upstairs crying every night. I remember after a particularly bad day, I passed out. When I woke up again, I noticed that I was hungrier than I normally was after falling asleep, which means more time had passed."  
"That was probably his first attempt then. Do you have any idea how often that happened?" Clint asked carefully.  
"After that first time, I started paying attention to little things like that to figure out how long I was out. Assuming my system worked, the same thing happened about 20 times, give or take a few." Lexi said, trying to sound clinical, but failing slightly.  
Clint's eyes tightened but he showed no other reaction to her revelation.  
"Ok." He finally said. "That probably means it's in there pretty deep, but we should be able to get it out."  
"And what happens if we don't?" Lexi asked, ever the realist.  
"Then we figure something else out."  
Lexi nodded and they fell into silence, each letting the other grasp the severity of what Lexi had been through and what she'd have to do to fix it.  
"Clint?" Lexi finally asked softly.  
"Yeah, Lex?"  
"You don't think I- I mean, it's not likely that-"  
"Just say it, Lex. It'll be easier."  
Lexi nodded once and took a deep breath before speaking again.  
"You don't think he made me kill anyone, do you?"  
"What?"  
"I mean, if he put this crap in my head, isn't it possible that he put other stuff in there. Like what Ivan used to do to Mama?"  
Clint sighed and ran his hand through his hair before answering. "I don't want to tell you that there's no way he did. But at the same time, I think it's highly unlikely."  
"You do?"  
"Yeah. It wouldn't make sense, given what he said to you. He seemed to want you in his possession. I don't know that he wanted to turn you into a soldier. I think he was too preoccupied with keeping you alive to risk you getting killed, or having your face show up and having someone figure out where you were and come get you."  
Lexi just nodded, relief washing over her face. "What do we do now?"  
"Now, we stop for the day."  
"What? Why?"  
"Lexi, look around yourself." Clint said with a smile.  
Lexi complied and noticed that it was significantly darker than when they'd started.  
"What?" She asked, confused.  
"It's been about 10 hours, Lex."  
"And we were just talking?"  
"We were actually silent for most of it." Clint said easily.  
"Will it ever stop?" Lexi asked suddenly.  
"Will what stop?"  
"Will I ever stop losing time?" She asked, annoyance creeping into her voice.  
"You didn't lose time. You were perfectly aware of the subtlest shift in the lighting. When the sun was in your eyes, you moved. When the breeze started, you buttoned your shirt." Clint said, gesturing to these things as he spoke. "Your body was perfectly aware while your mind was able to process."  
"But isn't that bad?" Lexi asked. "Shouldn't I constantly be paying attention?"  
"Not necessarily. If you decide to return to the field, you'll need to be able to relax for some missions, and part of that is letting your brain detach while allowing your gut instincts to take over."  
"So it's not bad?"  
"No. It means you're able to sense things around you and adjust quickly and easily without thinking about it. It's one of your mother's best skills as well."  
Lexi nodded and let herself relax slightly. She watched as Clint stood and brushed leaves and grass off his pants before holding his hands out to her and pulling her to her feet.  
"Let's go inside. I'll do dinner, and then we can get some sleep." Clint said as he wrapped his arm around Lexi's shoulders.  
"And we'll do this again tomorrow?"  
"Maybe. We'll see what the morning brings." Clint said by way of response.  
Lexi nodded and leaned closer to him as they walked into the house. Together they made dinner, both of them enjoying the quietness of the house. After they ate, they moved to the living room and Clint put a movie on while Lexi got settled on the couch. When it started up, Clint made his way to the couch where he lifted Lexi's feet and sat down before settling her feet on his lap.  
"I still can't believe you got any kind of reception up here." Lexi said with a smile.  
"I figured it would be a good idea. Now shush, the movie's starting."  
Lexi stuck her tongue out at Clint but made no comment as the movie started up and she gave it her full attention.

When the movie finally ended, Clint shut off the TV and turned to say goodnight to Lexi. But when he turned, he found that she'd already fallen asleep, and he couldn't help but smile at how young she looked.  
Carefully, he stood and moved her feet, making sure not to wake her up. He easily lifted her into his arms- made slightly easier by the fact that Lexi was built like Natasha, and therefore very small and very light- and carried her from the room.  
Clint knew he could have woken her up and made her walk up the stairs, but there was still a part of him that wasn't ready to let the little girl she'd used to be go. So he continued to carry her up the stairs and down the hall until he reached her room. He laid her on the bed and was suddenly grateful that he'd had her put pajamas on before he started the movie.  
He gently pulled the covers up to her shoulders and smiled when she instantly curled into a little ball. Just before he left, Clint leaned down and placed a kiss on Lexi's forehead.  
"I love you, Lexi-bug. More than you'll ever know, little girl." He whispered before walking to her door and turning off the light. With one last smile to his step-daughter, Clint turned and walked down the hall to his own bedroom, where he decided what he and Lexi would do the next day.

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**There you guys go! I hope you really liked it, and I hope you're not too disappointed with the lack of every single person dying.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**As I was planning this chapter, I realized that I didn't think I'd ever explained something about Lexi and Ceara to all you lovely readers. Because Natasha (and Alexei in Lexi's case) were given a drug that drastically slowed their aging while in the Red Room, they appear years younger than they are- case in point, Natasha was born around the '40s, but she appears to only be about 30 or so. Both Lexi and Ceara inherited this to some degree (regardless of whether that's possible or not. It is for this story) although Lexi inherited to a larger extent, simply because both her biological parents had it. Because of this, although Lexi is 18, she appears only 13 or 14 while Ceara appears 11 when she's really 13. I don't know how much that changes things for you guys, but I felt like I should explain how I'm seeing both the girls in my head, just so you guys know.  
One more thing. My plans for this story, at least for the next few chapters, are going to be more from Clint's point of view than from Lexi's, just because that's really the only way it will flow how I want it to. Or more precisely- that's the only way I can get it in my head, so that's what you guys are going to get. Regardless, I hope you guys like it.**

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Clint was wrenched from a peaceful sleep by someone screaming down the hall. After a second of disorientation, he realized that Lexi was the only other person in the house, so he bolted from his bed and ran from the room. He made his way quickly down the hall until he arrived at Lexi's door where the screams were even louder. He opened the door and turned on the light, trying not to wince when he saw her thrashing around on the bed, agony written all over her face.  
"Mama!" Lexi screamed, and Clint realized that Lexi was having a nightmare.  
Quickly, he went to the side of her bed and started brushing her hair out of her eyes.  
"Lexi-bug." He called softly. "Come on, Lexi-bug. Time to wake up."  
After about 2 more minutes of Lexi writhing around on her bed, her eyes finally snapped open and she sat bolt upright as she looked around in fear.  
"Lexi, you're ok, honey. You're safe here." Clint said quietly.  
Lexi's head snapped to the side at the sound of his voice and after her eyes landed on him, Clint could see her visibly relax. Without warning, Lexi threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest. After a few seconds, Clint could feel her tears as they fell from her eyes and landed on his shirt. As Lexi cried, Clint held her tightly and stroked her hair, making what he hoped were calming noises. Finally, Lexi seemed to run out of tears, and she pulled away from Clint and rubbed her eyes, trying to get rid of the last drops of moisture.  
"Sorry." She mumbled.  
"Shh. Don't worry about it, Lex." Clint said softly as he brushed some of her hair away from her eyes.  
Lexi just nodded in response and curled herself into Clint's chest, content to let him hold her for a little while.  
After a while, Lexi pulled away again slightly and turned to face Clint.  
"What time is it?" She asked.  
"A little after 6 am." Clint replied. "You want to try going back to sleep?"  
Lexi shook her head. "Might as well get up."  
"Ok. You want to talk about it?" Clint asked, trying to figure out what he wanted her answer to be.  
"Not right now." She said softly as she started getting off the bed.  
Clint grabbed her wrist before she could get very far away. When Lexi paused and turned around with a confused expression on her face, Clint smiled at her.  
"Come here." He said as he tugged on her hand.  
Lexi got back on the bed and allowed Clint to wrap his arms around her.  
"I love you, you know that, right, Lexi?" He whispered into her hair.  
"Yeah, I know." She mumbled back.  
"Good. Let me know if you want to talk, ok?"  
Lexi nodded and Clint pressed a kiss to the top of her head before letting her go so she could shower and get ready for the day.  
"You want to help me make breakfast?" Clint asked on his way out.  
"No, thank you." Lexi replied.  
Clint nodded and left her to herself while he went back to his own room and pulled on clothes for the day. When he was done, he went to the kitchen and started cracking eggs for omelets.  
Lexi arrived 15 minutes later in jeans and a flannel shirt and gave Clint her order for her omelet.  
"You look like you've been living here forever." Clint said glancing at her outfit.  
"Shut up." She mumbled. "It's all Pepper packed for me."  
Clint laughed at her and turned back to his cooking. Lexi made a face at his back before going to sit at the counter. Clint put the finished omelet on the counter in front of her and handed her a fork. She smiled at him before digging in.  
"So what's the plan for today?" Lexi asked after a few bites. She seemed perfectly ok, but Clint could see the hesitation in her eyes.  
"After this I was planning to have you help me chop some firewood. Then I was going to see if you wanted to do some target practice, and I thought we'd eat outside tonight." Clint said easily.  
"What about fixing this?" Lexi asked, gesturing to her head.  
Clint smiled. "We're not doing that today."  
"We're not?" Lexi asked, hope and skepticism warring in her features.  
"Nope. It's not something I want you to do everyday. Especially after this morning."  
"Clint-" Lexi started.  
"I know you don't want to talk about it right now, but that doesn't change anything. I'm willing to bet that your dream had something to do with Russia, which tells me that you still need time to process everything we did yesterday. And that means you need to relax today. I know you want to have everything back to normal, but you also need to take a break once in a while." Clint said.  
Lexi sighed, but Clint could tell that she was still happy. "Ok. So when do we get started?"  
"After you're done eating." Clint said gesturing to her almost demolished omelet.  
Lexi nodded and put the last bite of her breakfast in her mouth. When she finished chewing, Lexi grabbed her plate and rinse it off before putting it in the dishwasher and following Clint outside.  
"Alright, the woodpile is over this way." He said as he led her around the house.  
"How much do we need?"  
"Enough for however long we're here, and then some extra is always a good idea. In case next time we come out here we're too tired to chop any."  
Lexi nodded. "But how much is that?" She asked.  
"I don't really know. We'll figure it out though." Clint said with a smile.  
They'd arrived at the stump Clint had been using the day before and he easily removed the ax from the stump and held it out to Lexi.  
"What?" She asked.  
"You didn't think I was going to chop it, did you?"  
"Umm, yeah, I did." Lexi said, trying to keep the smirk off her face.  
"Tough luck for you then, kid. I chopped yesterday. That means it's your turn." Clint said, unable to keep the smile off his face.  
Lexi sighed and pretended to be annoyed. But she took the ax from Clint and stood behind the stump.  
"So what exactly am I supposed to do?" Lexi asked as she gestured to the ax.  
Clint picked up a piece of wood and set it in front of her. "Chop." Clint said.  
Lexi rolled her eyes and got the ax in position. She swung her arms and let the ax fall with a satisfying thunk.  
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa!" Clint said before she got a chance to swing again.  
"What?" Lexi asked.  
"You're going to kill someone if you keep doing that." Clint said. "You know what, you give me that."  
"What?" Lexi asked, trying her best to keep the ax away from her step father.  
"Ok, Alexis, stop dancing around with that. You're making me very nervous." Clint said as he tried to grab the ax away from her.  
"Fine." Lexi said and held the ax out to Clint.  
"Thank you." Clint said as he took the ax.  
"But now what am I going to do?" Lexi asked while a smile began making its way across her face.  
"Go over there and work on gymnastics." Clint said gesturing to an open area not far from where he was.  
"Well, if you're sure." Lexi said as she began making her way over to where Clint had indicated.  
Clint couldn't help but smile at Lexi as she began warming up. With a shake of his head, Clint turned back to the tree stump and began chopping. it wasn't until he'd been chopping wood for about 5 minutes that a thought occurred to him.  
"Hey!" He exclaimed.  
"What?" Lexi asked after landing a perfect flip.  
"You totally planned this, didn't you?" He accused.  
"I don't know why you're talking about." Lexi said.  
"You know how to use an ax perfectly well. You just didn't want to." Clint said as he narrowed his eyes at Lexi.  
"If you say so." Lexi said.  
Clint rolled his eyes but went back to chopping the firewood.

2 hours later, Clint called out to Lexi.  
"Hey, Lexi-bug!"  
"Yeah?"  
"You ready for some target practice?"  
"Yeah." Lexi called back.  
Clint stuck the ax in the tree stump and put the last piece of wood on the chopped pile. When he was done, he made his way over to Lexi and put his arm around her shoulder as he led her back to the house. When they entered, Clint took her into the living room and to a closet that held various weapons. Without looking over his shoulder, Clint tossed one of Lexi's bows back to her, knowing she'd catch it. Sure enough, Lexi caught the bow out of mid air and had it snapped open a second later. After Clint had grabbed his own bow, he grabbed two quivers and held one out to Lexi. She took it and the two of them strapped the quivers to their backs before going back outside.  
"Where are we shooting?" Lexi asked.  
"Wherever. Almost anything can be used for target practice."  
Lexi nodded and a moment later Clint watched as she began scaling one of the large trees at the edge of the forest that surrounded the house. Clint watched as she got into position before going to another tree and pulling himself up into the branches quickly and easily. With one last glance over at Lexi, Clint pulled an arrow from his quiver and nocked it in the bow. He pulled the string taught and searched the area in front of him for a suitable target before landing on one. After only a second, he released the arrow and smiled when it landed with a loud _thunk_ in the side of a tree 200 yards away.  
Clint was pulling another arrow from his quiver when he heard an arrow land and after a quick search he found it, embedded in the trunk of a tree 215 yards from where he was.  
Clint turned his head slightly and found Lexi staring at him, a smirk plastered on her face. Clint returned her smirk as he nocked the arrow in his hand and shot it 227 yards to another tree, without looking at his target.  
Lexi stuck her tongue out at Clint before getting another arrow form her quiver and nocking it, sending it flying to the target 240 yards away, all without looking.  
Clint raised his eyebrow in a gesture of respect before climbing down from his tree. By the time he got on the ground, Lexi had beaten him and was already on her way to the house. Clint ran ahead of her and easily scaled the side of the house so that he was on the roof. As he got himself situated, he turned and saw Lexi hot on his heels. When she neared the roof, Clint held his hand out and pulled Lexi onto the roof next to him.  
Wordlessly, Clint gestured to a group of trees about 550 yards from the house, and Lexi nodded. They both got into position, holding their bows in their respective stances with the strings taught. Lexi gave a slight nod in acceptance and allowed her arrow to fly. She couldn't hear the sound it made when it connected, at least not as well as she could see it. Immediately after Lexi had released her arrow, Clint released his, and they both watched as Clint's arrow flew through the air and landed, splitting the shaft of Lexi's arrow down the middle.  
Clint couldn't help the smug grin that crossed his face, and Lexi couldn't hold it against him. Splitting arrows with that much precision was no easy feat, even for the World's Greatest Marksman.  
Lexi gestured for Clint to shoot into another tree, and he obliged. He scanned the trees before selecting one and setting his gaze on it. With a calming breath, Clint released his arrow, smiling when he saw it land in the trunk. He gestured for Lexi to take her shot, and she set herself up, looking down the arrow at her target. It wasn't too difficult, at least not distance wise, only about 570 yards or so, something that Lexi could easily do. It was the fact that the slight breeze would push the arrow to the right slightly, and where she was crouched on the roof was at a different angle, which would cause the arrow to drop more than it normally would if she was shooting from where Clint was standing. But she knew why Clint had picked this shot, and she appreciated it. He was trying to show her that she was still able to make difficult shots, which meant that even if being in the thick of things wasn't where she was comfortable, she was still exceptionally useful.  
Taking a steadying breath, Lexi counted to 7 in her head before letting the arrow fly. A moment later, Lexi watched in amazement as her arrow split down the center of Clint's, stopping only when the tip of Lexi's arrow met the tip of Clint's.  
"Whoa." She breathed. She turned and saw Clint smiling at her. "I totally didn't think I'd make that." Lexi stated.  
"I honestly didn't either. But I hoped you would." Clint said. "Come on. We need to get a picture of it or no one is ever going to believe us."  
Lexi nodded and let him lead the way off the roof. When they landed on the ground the two of them walked to the tree and Clint pulled out his phone to take a picture before pulling the arrows out of the trunk.  
"Wait a minute." Lexi said as she examined the arrows. "These are made of wood."  
"Yeah. I made them myself." Clint said, pride creeping into his voice.  
"You did?" Lexi asked in amazement.  
"Yeah. Wait, you didn't realize that they felt different?"  
"No. I just thought they were old. That you hadn't really had time to get new arrows up here. I mean, we're both using our old bows, so I just figured you'd only had time to get old equipment." Lexi explained, trying not to make it sound like she'd missed something that was extremely obvious.  
"So, basically, you're telling me that you managed to compensate for not only a bow that you haven't used in about 5 years, but also for arrows that you had no idea were made of wood, a material that flies quite differently than the composite arrows you're used to. And, to top it off, while doing all of that, you split _my _ arrow completely in half, save for the tip, from about 570 yards?" Clint asked.  
"Ummm, yeah?" Lexi said, more of a question than anything else.  
Clint shook his head. "Jesus, kid. You're making me look bad, you know."  
Lexi laughed. "I highly doubt that."  
Clint didn't respond, and Lexi started to get uncomfortable with what he was leaving unsaid.  
"Come on. I was promised dinner under the stars." Lexi said, tugging Clint's arm until he followed her.

Dinner wasn't under the stars so much as under a canopy of trees, but it was nice nonetheless. Clint started a fire and cooked steak, making Lexi smile when she cut hers open to find it bright pink.  
"Sweet!" She exclaimed.  
"As close to mooing as is still edible." Clint said with a smile as he dug in to his only slightly more cooked food.  
When they finished eating, Clint helped Lexi back onto the roof and they laid down, finally able to see the stars. They were silent for about an hour before Lexi spoke.  
"Clint?" She asked.  
"Yeah."  
"How long can we stay here?" She asked again.  
"As long as you want to. Or until we need to return." He said.  
Lexi nodded and they fell silent again.  
"Clint?" She asked some time later.  
"Hmm?"  
"I think I'm ready to talk about this morning." Lexi said carefully.  
"Ok." Clint said. His ears were alert, but he kept his body calm, knowing that Lexi would be more at ease that way.  
"You were kind of right. It was about Russia, but only kind of. I wasn't there, but it was because of that." Lexi said. "I don't actually know where it was, but that wasn't really important. He-he made me fight Mama. And then he shot her. He didn't kill her, but she couldn't fight anymore. It didn't make much sense, but I guess most dreams don't tend to make sense. Anyway, after he'd shot her, he made me slit her throat. And the horrible thing is, I _wanted _to. So I did. And it wasn't until after was too close to dying to be saved that I realized what I'd done. I snapped out of it just in time to hear her say my name once before she died."  
Lexi fell silent after that, and Clint decided to sit up. He looked over at her and found her with her arms wrapped around her knees and her eyes trained on the roof below her.  
"After that, I was just screaming for her. The next thing I know, you're waking me up, but there was a part of me that was still proud of what I had done. Then when it realized that it had only been a dream, that part of me was upset and wanted to go out and find her. That's why I was holding on to you so tightly. I was afraid that if I didn't, I'd leave and go find her and hurt her."  
When Clint could tell that Lexi was done talking, he went over to her and gently out his arms around her, pulling her into his side. Lexi shifted so that her face was pressed into his chest and tried not to give in to the overwhelming urge to start sobbing.  
When Lexi finally had some control over her emotions, Lexi pulled away slightly and allowed Clint to pull her to her feet before following him from the roof. When they were back in the house, Clint gave her a glass of water and watched her drink it quickly. Clint took the glass back with a smile.  
"Bed?" He asked.  
Lexi nodded and wrapped her arms around Clint's waist. "Thank you." She mumbled.  
"Anytime." Clint said as he kissed her head. Lexi released him and Clint watched as she turned and walked up the stairs.  
Clint went through the house and made sure that all the lights and whatnot were off before following Lexi up the stairs. He paused at the end of the hallway and looked toward her room. There was no light visible under the door, and Clint couldn't decide if he was glad that she was trying to get some sleep or not.  
Shaking his head, Clint turned and walked into his bedroom where he showered quickly and pulled on a pair of boxers before crawling into bed.  
In the time before he actually fell asleep, Clint found himself staring at the ceiling trying not to wonder which Council member Natasha was going after currently, but that was something easier said than done.  
For all that Clint hoped- and thought- he was helping Lexi, a part of him couldn't help but think that Natasha was better suited for what Lexi needed. Sure, they both knew what it felt like to be unmade, but Natasha had been through much of what everyone suspected Shostakov had done to Lexi. Clint sighed and shoved all of that to the back of his mind to deal with later.  
Eventually, he managed to shut his brain off and drifted off into what he assumed would be a peaceful and uneventful sleep.  
Of course, that was before he was ripped from his dreams yet again by Lexi screaming in agony down the hall. But this time as he ran down the hall, Clint had the nagging suspicion that this wasn't another nightmare. As he threw open the door, his heart sank as his suspicions were confirmed.  
_Well, shit, _he thought.

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**And we're back to cliff hangers! Please don't kill me!  
****Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Well, did I make you guys wait long enough? I know, it was evil of me to leave you hanging, but eh, I think you'll find that it was worth it.  
Also, special thanks to Lollypops101, Second Daughter of Eve, and blackangel150 for your continued support. You guys keep me inspired to keep writing, so thank you very much!  
And now, on to the story!**

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Previously: _Of course, that was before he was ripped from his dreams yet again by Lexi screaming in agony down the hall. But this time as he ran down the hall, Clint had the nagging suspicion that this wasn't another nightmare. As he threw open the door, his heart sank as his suspicions were confirmed.  
Well, shit, he thought._

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Clint stood in the doorway for a split second before his brain was able to process what he was seeing.  
Lexi was curled into a tight ball on her bed with her hands covering her head.  
That in and of itself wasn't concerning. The fact that her skin was glistening with sweat was slightly disturbing, but even that wasn't what made Clint pause.  
It was the blood trickling down from Lexi's temple. Clint watched for just a moment as a thin stream of blood wove its way down her cheek, disrupting the thin layer of sweat covering Lexi's face.  
Another scream had Clint running to her side, where he saw that her eyes were open and full of pain. He also saw that her fingers were bloody, and that's when he realized that the cut on her temple had been from her own nails.  
Gingerly, Clint took Lexi's hands into his own, trying not to notice how she shied away from the contact.  
"Hey, Lex. Cutting your face up won't help." Clint murmured.  
Lexi whimpered in response, and Clint watched as her body started shaking.  
"Lexi, what's going on? Can you tell me anything?"  
"Папа... help me..." Lexi whimpered.  
Clint wasn't sure if it was the fact that Lexi hadn't called him that since well before New Mexico, or if it was the broken sound in her voice, but he suddenly knew he had to get her to SHIELD. Now.  
He pulled out his phone and dialed Pepper, hoping she wouldn't be in a meeting.  
Luck was on his side.  
"Clint?"  
"Pepper. How quickly can you get a jet to the cabin?"  
"We'll be there in five minutes." Pepper said.  
"Really?" Clint knew they weren't that close, and even Tony's jets weren't that fast.  
"I was on my way to talk to you." Pepper replied. "What's going on?"  
"It's Lexi. We need to get her to SHIELD medical ASAP." Clint said.  
He heard Pepper gasp. "We'll be there soon. Get her downstairs if you can."  
"Already on it." Clint said and hung up.  
"Come on, Lex." Clint said as he lifted her from the bed and held her tightly. He carried her into the hall and down the stairs before laying her on the couch and placing her head in his lap.  
"Lexi, talk to me." Clint begged.  
"You can't let them get her, Папа." Lexi murmured.  
"Get who, Lex?"  
"Ceara. Mama can't lose both of us, and they already have me."  
"Lexi-" Clint started.  
"Promise me, Папа. Promise they won't get her too."  
"Alright, I promise."  
"Thanks. I'm tired, Папа." Lexi whimpered.  
"I know, Lex. But you gotta stay awake for me, ok?"  
"I think I'll take a nap, Папа." Lexi said before her eyes slipped closed.  
"No. Lexi, come on." Clint said, panic rising in his throat. "Lexi, open your eyes, sweetie."  
Lexi made no response, and Clint hurried to check for a pulse, only managing to find a very weak one after a bit of searching.  
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Clint exclaimed.  
"Clint?" He heard someone call from outside.  
He went over to the door and threw it open to see Pepper standing before him. Without a word, Clint turned and pulled Lexi off the couch and carried her outside.  
"Oh my God." Pepper gasped when she saw Lexi. "What happened?"  
"I don't know for sure, but I have a fairly decent idea." Clint said as he carried Lexi onto the jet and carefully laid her down with her head in his lap. When a medic tried to look at Lexi, Clint glared at him until he backed away.  
"No one touches her except for Sharon or me." He hissed.  
"Clint, they need to help her." Pepper whispered kindly as the jet took off.  
"They won't be able to do anything." Clint said bitterly.  
"Clint, what happened?" Pepper asked.  
"She's going through withdrawal." Clint said as he gently tucked a piece of Lexi's hair behind her ear.  
"What?" Pepper asked, surprise coloring her tone.  
"They pumped her full of drugs, same as they did to Natasha. They pumped her full of that shit, and now it may kill her before we can do anything about it."  
Everyone was quiet for a moment before Clint spoke again.  
"Why were you so close? What did you want to talk to me about?"  
"It can wait, Clint." Pepper said gently.  
"Pepper." Clint said, and Pepper could hear just how tired he was. "Just tell me. What happened to Natasha?"  
Pepper didn't even bother to ask how he knew it was her. "She missed two check ins, which we weren't really concerned with. We all figured she was as far beneath the radar as possible."  
"But?" Clint hedged. There was always a but.  
"But then we got this." Pepper said.  
She handed him a tablet with a pair of headphones attached. Clint put them in his ears before pressing play. Instantly, his blood ran cold.  
Ivan Petrovich's face greeted him, causing Clint's hackles to raise, even from thousands of miles away.  
"Ah, hello Hawkeye. I'll make this brief, since I'm sure you're dealing with quite a bit. I have your precious wife, and I want the girl she took from me. All of them, actually. I have no use for her anymore, she's gone soft. But the other three, well now, I can definitely use them. Send them to me, and I'll send your wife home."  
The camera shifted and Ivan walked through a doorway before coming to a stop. The sight before the camera almost made Clint cry. Natasha was tied to a chair, her face bloody and one eye swollen shut, but it was unmistakably her.  
"There's your proof. I want the girls." Ivan said. "Natalia, would you like to say anything to your precious husband?" Ivan asked in a condescending tone.  
"Clint, ná lig dóibh teacht. Beidh mé go breá ar mo chuid féin. Coinnigh na cailíní ar shiúl ó anseo. Is breá liom tú." _'Clint, don't let them come. I'll be fine on my own. Keep the girls away from here. I love you.'_ Natasha said calmly, her one good eye locking with Clint's even through the camera.  
"I won't give you a deadline." Petrovich continued. "You have as long as you want to take, although be warned, your wife may not have the same amount of time."  
With one last sneer, the camera switched off.  
Clint removed the headphones and handed the tablet back to Pepper.  
"Do we know if it's real?" He asked as he stared down at Lexi.  
"JARVIS spent 2 days going through the video. There's no evidence of tampering, and based on some stuff I don't really understand, Tony and Bruce agree that it was taken 3 days ago." Pepper replied.  
"What's the plan?" Clint asked.  
"Stasia and Ali are gearing up to go in, and Phil and Maria are having a hell of a time trying to get them not to. But we figured we'd ask you what you wanted to do."  
"Don't let them go." Clint whispered and couldn't stop himself from choking on a sob.  
"Clint?"  
"Natasha would be furious if any of them went back there just to save her. To her, their lives are worth more than hers will ever be. She's willing to die if it means Petrovich never lays a hand on them again."  
"Will he really kill her?" Pepper asked uncertainly.  
"Eventually. He might use her for a little bit first." Clint mumbled.  
"So what are we going to do?" Pepper asked carefully.  
"I don't know!" Clint suddenly yelled.  
Pepper was quiet as Clint tried to calm himself down. "I'm sorry." He said quietly as he went back to stroking Lexi's hair.  
"It's fine." Pepper reassured him.  
"It's just, I know what's going to happen to Lexi soon, and I can't really make my brain focus on anything else."  
"Will it be like it was for Natasha?"  
"Probably." Clint said. "Which means that we only have about 45 minutes before everything goes to shit. Looks like the worst 48 hours of my life are about to turn into the worst 96 hours of my life." Clint mumbled to himself.  
Before Pepper could respond, the jet touched down on the roof of the SHIELD base. The doors opened and Clint stepped off the jet with Lexi in his arms.  
As they strode through the halls, numerous junior agents stopped to gawk at him, but he kept walking, grateful that his reputation was enough to make every agent step out of the way.  
When they arrived in the medical bay, a doctor gestured to a room and told him that Sharon was finishing a surgery and would be out in 5 minutes. Clint set Lexi on the bed and pulled the covers over her. 5 minutes later, Sharon burst into the room.  
"Ah shit, again?" She asked.  
"Yeah." Clint said. "I'd say she has about 35 to 40 minutes."  
Sharon nodded and proceeded to hook Lexi up to every kind of monitor she could before setting up the IV to get some fluids into her system. She was about to start asking Clint some questions to get a rough timeline, when a voice was heard yelling for him in the waiting area. With a nod, Sharon gestured for him to leave. Clint squeezed Lexi's hand before turning and going to see his other daughter.  
"Папа!" Ceara exclaimed and ran toward Clint.  
"He has Mama! Папа, you have to go help her!"  
"No, Ceara." Clint said firmly.  
"What? Why not?"  
"I can't."  
"You're to going to make Stasia and Ali go, are you?"  
"Of course not."  
"Then who else?"  
"No one." Clint said.  
"What?"  
"No one's going to get her." Clint said.  
"Папа, you can't just leave her! You can't just let him kill her!" Ceara yelled.  
"I don't have a choice!" Clint said.  
"Maria says there's always a choice!"  
"There are always choices, but there aren't always good choices. Sometimes you have to pick the one that hurts less."  
"What?"  
"No matter what happens, we'll lose someone." Clint said.  
"So you're just going to let Mama die?" Ceara exclaimed.  
"You don't know her like I do, Ceara." Clint said. "She'd never forgive me if I sent anyone in there to get her out. Especially if it meant Stasia and Ali would have to return."  
"Did you talk to her? Because if you didn't, then you can't know that!"  
"So you want to send your best friends, the girls you grew up with, girls that are essentially your _sisters, _in to get killed?" Clint asked.  
"No! But I don't want my mother to die either!"  
"It doesn't work both ways. If anyone else goes in, Petrovich will kill her. If they go in, You'll see your mother again, but not Stasia or Ali, or even Lexi. If no one goes in, you get to see them everyday, but not your mother. There's no way to win." Clint said.  
Ceara was quiet for a moment. "Папа?" She finally asked. "Where's Lexi?"  
Clint glanced down at his watch. _Shit._ "Ceara, you need to leave. Now."  
"What? No. Where's my sister?"  
"Ceara, you really don't want to be in here." Clint said.  
"Stop treating me like a child!" Ceara screamed. "I'm not a little girl anymore! Where the hell is my sister?"  
Before Clint could answer, a very distinct and blood-curdling scream came from the room Lexi was in, effectively answering Ceara's question.  
"What the hell did you do to her?" Ceara asked.  
"Nothing." Clint said.  
Ceara tried to get past him, but Clint cut her off. "Don't go in there, Ceara. You won't be able to forget what you see."  
"I don't care. You did that to her, I know you did!" Ceara exclaimed.  
"I didn't, Ceara." Clint said calmly as he caught his daughter around the waist and turned so that both of their backs were to Lexi's room. "I didn't do anything. But you need to leave before you hear something that will haunt you forever."  
The tone of Clint's voice made Ceara stop in her struggles. She turned to look at her father and saw that he'd aged years in the week since she'd seen him last.  
"Is she going to be ok?" Ceara finally asked.  
"God I hope so." Clint said, and Ceara's heart broke when his voice cracked. "I don't know." Clint murmured before a tear slipped form his eye.  
Ceara threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly before letting him go. With one last kiss to her head, Clint turned and ran bad to where he could hear Lexi screaming.  
Ceara stood rooted in her spot as she listened to her sister's screams. She tried not to listen, but she could hear Lexi begging Clint to kill her, yet Ceara still could move. Finally, she felt arms wrap around her waist and pull her into the air. She started struggling again before she heard Steve's voice in her ear.  
"You can't help her, Ceara." Steve whispered. "Clint knows what he's doing. He'll make sure she's ok."  
It was the last thing Ceara heard before she gave up fighting and allowed the blackness she'd felt around the edges of her mind for the last three days- or 8 months, depending on how you looked at it- to finally consume her, pulling her into a place where the pain didn't exist.

* * *

**SO. MUCH. DRAMA! Holy ****_crap_****, will anything ever work out for these people? I swear to you, I'm trying to make this have a happy ending, but I'm finding that I enjoy writing all these dramatic things. So we'll see. Also, I just realized that this is the 13th chapter, and I think it's safe to say that it's very unlucky indeed. Although, I'm not sure that's saying much, given the rest of the story... oh well.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry it's been so long. I was having some issues figuring out how to write this chapter. As it stands, it'll be shorter than my other chapters, so I'm sorry.  
Also, it'll probably be another few days or weeks until I update again. I'm having surgery tomorrow, and I'll be on pain meds for a little while.**

* * *

"Steve? What happened to her?" Ashlyn asked when she saw the super soldier walk into the common room of the tower carrying Ceara.  
"I heard her yelling at Clint in medical, and when I went in to see what was going on, Clint was walking away and Ky was going to follow him. I grabbed her before she could chase him down, and seconds later, she went limp." Steve explained as he laid her down on the couch.  
"Why was she in medical?" Ashlyn asked.  
"Clint brought Lexi in." Pepper replied as she entered the room.  
"They're back?" Tony asked as he and Bruce followed Pepper in.  
"Yes. But they're staying in medical." Pepper replied. "No visitors. No matter what."  
"Why?" Ashlyn asked.  
"Why what?" Dustin asked as he came in from the kitchen.  
"Why No one's allowed to go see Lex and Clint in medical." Ashlyn told her brother.  
"They're back."  
"Yes. And you're not going to see them. No one is." Pepper said, giving Dustin and Ashlyn a look.  
"Why did they go there?" Dustin asked Pepper.  
"I'm not the one who should tell you. Let Lexi take care of it when she comes home." Pepper said.  
Before anyone cold reply, footsteps were heard running through the hall, and seconds later, Stasia and Ali stormed into the room and ran to Pepper.  
"They're back? Does that mean we can go now?" Stasia asked.  
"They're back. But you're not going to Russia." Pepper said.  
"So we let her die?" Ali asked.  
"That's not what I said. We're figuring something out." Pepper replied.  
Stasia and Ali sighed but sunk down onto the couch next to Pepper.  
"So what do we do now?" Ali asked as she leaned her head against her sister's shoulder. Stasia wrapped her arm around Ali's shoulders and hugged her tightly.  
"We wait." Tony said as he laid his hand on Dustin's shoulder and squeezed once before moving to sit on the couch and allowing Ashlyn to sit on his lap and rest her head on his shoulder. "That's all there's left to do."

* * *

Two days later, Clint was still sitting next to Lexi's bed. She'd stopped screaming and begging to die five hours earlier. Now, Lexi laid in bed silently, the heart monitor proving that she was still alive.  
The door opened behind Clint, but he didn't turn around. He'd made it clear that only he and Sharon were allowed in the room, no exceptions.  
"How's she doing?" Sharon asked.  
"You tell me. You know what all these machines are saying. All I'm getting is that her heart is still beating." Clint replied with a trace of humor finally entering his voice.  
"She's doing better." Sharon said. "Better than Natasha was at this point."  
"Timeline?" Clint asked.  
"I'm hoping she'll wake up sometime in the next few hours." Sharon replied.  
Clint nodded. "Thank you, Sharon."  
"You're welcome."  
Clint listened as Sharon left the room, and when he heard the click of the door closing completely, Clint relaxed slightly and leaned onto Lexi's bed.  
"Come on, Lex." He whispered. "You need to wake up so we can figure out how to get your mom home."

* * *

Four hours later, Lexi's eyes fluttered open.  
"Clint?" She rasped when she caught sight of her stepfather.  
"Hey, Lex." Clint responded after a moment of confusion. "How are you doing?"  
"Ugh. What happened?" Lexi asked as she tried to sit up, only to gasp as a wave of pain hit her and knocked her back.  
"Slow down, Lex." Clint said as he raised her bed enough for her to sit comfortably.  
"Where's Mama?" Lexi asked.  
"Lex-"  
"Clint, why isn't my mom here?"  
Clint sighed. "She's in Russia." He replied. P  
"What?"  
"Ivan got her."  
"Who's getting her back?"  
"No one yet." Clint replied.  
"Why not?"  
"The only way he'll let her go is if you, Stasia, and Ali go in and trade yourselves for her. And before you ask, no, you're not allowed. We'll figure something else out."  
Lexi sighed. "Fine." She looked around and finally seems to realize where she was. "Wait, how did I get here?"  
"They pumped you full of drugs while you were in Russia. Remember what I told you about when you and your mom first got here?" Clint asked.  
Lexi thought for a moment before she realized what Clint was saying. "I'm so sorry, Clint. You shouldn't have had to listen to that again." Lexi said.  
"Don't worry about it, Lexi." Clint said.  
"What are we gonna do?"  
"We're gonna wait." Clint said.  
"And then I'm going to go to Russia and bring her home." Lexi said.  
"Lex-"  
"Nope. Not listening to you. I'm 18, I'm going to do it."  
Clint sighed. "Whatever, Lex. But first, you need to sleep. Don't argue. Just do it." Clint said with a smile.  
Lexi sighed, but couldn't deny that she was tired. "Fine. But you won't change my mind." She replied as her eyes slid shut.  
Clint smiled. "I never could, Lex." He said as he kissed her head.

* * *

**There you go. I'm sorry if it seems a little funny, but I wanted to get it out to you all before I tried editing it while being all loopy and stuff.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


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